BIGGAR INJURY BLOW AS OSPREYS CRASH TO DEFEAT IN ITALY
...and it’s a tough night for Dragons
THE crisis at the Ospreys deepened during a clueless defeat against Benetton at Stadio Monigo in the Guinness PRO14, writes Andy Howell.
Ospreys were awful in the first half and their attacking play was hopeless as they were unable to make their territorial advantage and possession pay in the second half.
It was embarrassing fayre and Benetton drove a final nail in their coffin when substitute Marty Banks ensured victory with a penalty less than two minutes before the final whistle.
Ospreys had been read the riot act by coach Steve Tandy in the wake of their lacklustre first-half performance in last Saturday’s defeat against Munster in Swansea.
He’d also wasted no time in calling up the cavalry by giving Lions Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar their first starts of the campaign, and having Alun Wyn Jones among the subs, but they failed to ignite their misfiring teammates.
Biggar left proceedings just 13 minutes into the match with a back injury after he was flattened by a tackle from home flanker Abraham Steyn.
Tandy would have wanted the Ospreys to make a brisk start but they were on the ropes with just 109 seconds having been played.
Left-wing Alberto Sgarbi ripped through the Ospreys’ defence and raced nearly 50m. He was halted just short of the try-line but Italy flanker Francesco Minto was able to finish, outside-half Ian McKinley converting.
Biggar had got his first points of the season for the Ospreys with a penalty from in front of the sticks after Benetton tight-head prop Simone Ferrari infringed at a scrum, but McKinley replied with a penalty.
Sam Davies came off the bench for Biggar, but was unable to prevent them falling further behind to a penalty from McKinley.
Benetton had hoped for more from a sustained attack but it had been illegally slowed when an Osprey failed to roll away following a tackle.
McKinley hit an upright with his first attempt but received another opportunity because Keelan Giles had attempted to charge it down – against the rules.
McKinley put it bang between the uprights at the second attempt to make it 13-6 in his side’s favour.
Giles atoned quickly by beating a defender and cut through the Benetton defence before being brought down by the combined might of home full-back Jayden Hayward and rightwing Angelo Esposito.
However, the home side killed the ball and Davies stepped up to hit the target with the subsequent penalty to trail by seven points at the interval.
The opening quarter-of-an-hour of the second half was a shocker, the best moment coming when Justin Tipuric plucked a ball out of the air, beat a defender and found James King, but the substitute lost the ball forward when tackled.
That failure signalled the arrival of Jones and he thought he had scored, but had been in an offside position when he picked up the ball before diving over the try-line.
It was virtually all Ospreys afterwards, but their attack was too blunt to secure the spoils during another miserable night for Tandy.
So it’s back to the drawing board and a trip to South Africa to face the Cheetahs, who hammered Leinster 38-19 in Bloemfontein. It doesn’t get any easier for the Ospreys! Treviso: Try: Minto; con: McKinley; pens: McKinley (2), Banks. Ospreys: Pens: Biggar, S Davies.
In the night’s other game, Glasgow Warriors ran out 37-10 winners against Munster.