Myler’s late strike swings 8-try thriller Ospreys way

TOBY Booth praised the character of his Ospreys side who needed a late Stephen Myler penalty to beat Benetton in Italy.

Ospreys were under the pump for large periods but a superb display from discarded Wales No.9 Rhys Webb helped get them out of jail.

“It was a muchimproved performance and we’ve won away from home against a team that’s going exceptionally well,” said Booth. “This will give us a lot of confidence and we are going to need it against Munster next week. There is plenty to work on but we showed good character to grind out a win at a very difficult place.”

After a period of pressure Benetton hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi powered with Tomas Albornoz converting from the touchline. Ospreys were put under even more pressure when wing Luke Morgan was sent to the bin for a deliberate knock-on.

Ospreys then scored their first try when rookie full-back Max Nagy brushed off two tackles to touch down. And against the run of play the Ospreys took the lead with a searing break from out of favour Webb putting them on the front foot. He sliced through defence and a sensational out of the back door offload sent No.8 Ethan Roots over for their second try.

Ospreys started the second-half more positively than the first and extended their lead when Owen Watkin charged through a gap to put Webb over for a try which Myler converted. Webb’s try changed the momentum of the game and wing Morgan raced clear from the kick-off before being brought down deep in the Benetton 22. But the ball was quickly recycled which allowed Webb to snipe over for his second try.

But Marco Bortolami’s side refused to throw in the towel and a tremendous individual try from former South Africa sevens international Rhino Smith dragged them back into the game.

Ospreys’ task got harder when Cuthbert was sin-binned for a high tackle. The hosts made the most of that advantage when Monty Ioane scored a try after stepping Nagy. Benetton levelled the score when Tommaso Menoncello touched down in the right corner, with Andries Coetzee converting. But Ospreys showed tremendous character with Myler stepping up to land the late penalty.