Ospreys hit back late on to continue superb run
ZEBRE.................................24 OSPREYS............................28 A much-changed Ospreys side came from behind to claim a bonus-point victory over Zebre in Italy.
With a number of Wales callups in camp with Warren Gatland’s squad ahead of the
Six Nations, this was a very different side to the one who beat Leicester in Europe.
Regardless of that, Toby Booth’s side still raced out to a 14-0 lead after just five minutes through tries from Harri
Deaves and Tian ThomasWheeler, only to concede four tries without reply to leave them staring at a eighth league defeat of the season.
However, Morgan Morris’ close-range effort offered them hope just after the hour mark, before Reuben Morgan
Williams’ score with 10 minutes to go earned them victory.
Lovely hands saw Deaves cross after just 90 seconds, with Luke Morgan popping up onto Jack Walsh’s shoulder late to break the line before feeding the openside to score.
The Ospreys had a second try minutes later, with ThomasWheeler crossing out wide after more pressure from
Booth’s side. Again, it was simple hands that did the damage after some strong carrying, with the centre one of several in white jerseys lining up to score.
For a while though, that was as good as it got. The home side got on the scoreboard on 19 minutes as Jacobus van Wyk dived over in the corner for an unconverted score after a long, looping pass caught out the Ospreys’ narrow defence.
On the half-hour mark, No. 8 Taina Fox-Matamua stepped through Keelan Giles’ tackle to dive over. Five minutes later, Zebre forged ahead as smart offloads from Chris Cook and Leonard Krumov put FoxMatamua over for his second.
The home side secured the bonus point on 50 minutes as Cook’s offload put Luca
Andreani over in the corner to stretch the lead to 10 points.
Just past the hour mark, Ospreys No. 8 Morris forced his way over from close range.
And minutes later he turned provider as he gave a pass to Giles. When the wing skinned his man, Morris was back inside in support, getting an offload away to Morgan-Williams, with the scrum-half putting the Ospreys ahead. From there, they managed to hold on for their sixth win in their last seven matches.