HEWITT’S LATE SCORE SPELLS AGONY FOR NEW OSPREYS COACH
THE Dragons failed to grab a golden opportunity to notch up a rare double over the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium in the Guinness PRO14.
They were unable to capitalise on the Ospreys being reduced to 14 players for the final 66 minutes after having George North sent off for what’s believed to be the first time in his senior career.
PRO14 debutant referee Adam Jones didn’t have any choice in dismissing North for taking out opposite number Ashton Hewitt in the air.
The Wales and Lions star had chased a restart but got his timing all wrong as he clumsily collided with the airborne Hewitt, who crashed to the ground and landed on his neck.
By the letter of the law, Jones had to show North a red card.
But the Ospreys, under new coach Toby Booth, gamely hung on and played some nice rugby.
Nevertheless, the Dragons could have mugged them after Hewitt went over for his second try in the final minute to level matters.
But captain Sam Davies pushed the difficult conversion wide as the match finished in a draw.
The Ospreys had started with a bang, with outside-half signing Stephen
Myler, the England international and former Northampton Saints and London Irish playmaker, opening his points account.
He tapped over a penalty from in front of the uprights after promising young centre Kieran Williams was the victim of a high tackle from former Ospreys hooker Richard Hibbard in the third minute.
Less than four minutes later, North squeezed his way over in the corner despite the attention of Hewitt and Dragons full-back Dafydd Howells.
Hooker Sam Parry had done the initial damage with a powerful surge to set up a ruck.
The Ospreys recycled quickly and quick passing from Alun Wyn Jones, Myler and full-back Dan Evans gave North the space he required to use his power.
Myler nailed the difficult conversion to put them 10 points to the good.
But the Dragons hit back with a try after centre Jack Dixon got a pass away as Williams tackled him.
He found Hewitt, who fended off Ospreys back-rower Olly Cracknell before speeding past Evans and Myler for a pretty soft score.
Outside-half Davies converted against his former region to reduce the arrears to three points.
Then the match was turned upside down with North seeing red.
Leon Brown had scored a superb try for the Dragons against the Ospreys last January but his effort at the Liberty may have been even better.
The Wales prop charged on to the ball at the side of a ruck, brushed off Ospreys No. 8 Morgan Morris and Jones to sprint 25 metres for the line. He took Evans over the line with him to nudge the Gwent region into a 1210 lead.
Davies failed with the conversion and they conceded three points after Hibbard killed the ball at a ruck.
He got a bit of treatment from the right boot of Rhys Webb, who was digging for the ball, but it was Hibbard who was penalised.
Myler knocked over his shot at goal to edge the Ospreys in front for a second time.
Parry boosted their morale by bagging his fifth try of season as they opened up an eight-point lead with a lovely try.
A snipe from Webb put Williams into a hole and he sprinted away before finding Parry with a scoring pass for Myler to convert.
Davies atoned for two earlier misses to find the target for the Dragons with a penalty from the final kick of an eventful and exciting first half.
It was both regions’ first match in six months and you could see that ring-rustiness in their sometimes tame defending.
Parry claimed he had got his second try of the match following a lineout ploy in the second half.
He didn’t get the ball down initially, but eventually managed to ground it on the line.
However, an eternity seemed to have passed before referee Jones disallowed it, following talks with television match official Sean Brickell, on the grounds that the ball had been held up for too long.
Myler put a penalty attempt wide to keep the Dragons within a converted try of taking the lead with a quarter of the match remaining.
The visitors had a chance of a try after the ball came off the hip of rightwing Owen Jenkins, which was legal, but Howells failed to gather the ball and knocked on with the line at his mercy.
And Howells had a second effort ruled out for a fumble as he dived for the try-line, the eagle eyes of assis
tant referee Gwyn Morris having spotted him failing to control the ball.
Then up popped Hewitt in the dying seconds for that final twist.
OSPREYS D Evans; G North, O Watkin, K Williams, L Morgan; S Myler, R Webb; N Smith, S Parry, T Botha, A Beard, A W Jones, O Cracknell, M Morris, J Tipuric (capt). Reps: D Lake, G Thomas, N Thomas,
B Davies, W Griffiths, R MorganWilliams, J Thomas, T ThomasWheeler.
DRAGONS D Howells; O Jenkins, N Tompkins, J Dixon, A Hewitt; S Davies (capt), T Knoyle; B Harris, R Hibbard, L Brown, M Screech, J Maksymiw, B Fry, R Moriarty, T Basham. Reps: E Shipp, C Maguire, C Coleman, J Davies, A Wainwright, L Baldwin, A Robson, A Warren.