Late Ospreys drop-goal sees off Ulster
Dan Edwards scored a brilliant last-minute drop-goal to earn Ospreys a dramatic 19-17 win over Ulster and give a much-needed boost to the Welsh regions.
After weekend defeats for Cardiff, Scarlets and Dragons, a fourth Welsh loss looked likely until Edwards’ late intervention at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Ulster suffered a first-half injury blow when prop Marty Moore was forced to leave the field and they soon received another setback when Edwards kicked Ospreys into the lead with a 29th-minute penalty.
The visitors’ woes continued when captain Iain Henderson became their second forward to depart with injury. But Ulster regrouped to score the opening try in the 34th minute through Marcus Rea. Nathan Doak converted before Edwards kicked his second penalty to leave Ospreys trailing 7-6 at the interval.
Eight minutes after the restart, ospreys lost morgan Morse to a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, but the next score went the way of the hosts when Edwards kicked a third penalty.
James Ratti became the second Ospreys player sent to the sin bin and with the home side down to 13, Ulster capitalised when tom stewart went over for a try.
But the game swung again when Ulster replacement Luke Marshall was yellowcarded within two minutes of entering the field and the hosts made them pay with a superb breakout try by Keiran Williams, with Edwards adding the extras to make it 16-14 to Ospreys.
Ulster reclaimed the lead with five minutes remaining when Jake Flannery knocked over a penalty, but Edwards had other ideas with his late drop-goal.