O’Flaherty puts bite on 14-man Blues
OSPREYS head coach Steve Tandy hailed young winger Tom O’Flaherty for his match-winning performance against Cardiff Blues.
The Ospreys thrashed their Welsh rivals 31-7 to claim a bonus-point victory in the Anglo-Welsh Cup – with two tries from replacement O’Flaherty.
The Cardiff-born whizzkid came on for the injured Wales international Eli Walker in the 19th minute.
And when prop Anton Peikrishvili, who was making his full Blues debut, was shown a red card for biting in the 47th minute with the scores level, O’Flaherty turned the game on its head.
The Ospreys had taken the lead after just 69 seconds when they won their lineout and hooker Scott Otten bullied his way past the Blues’ backline to score.
Another Blues debutant Rhodri Davies replied with a try of his own after cleverly taking a quick tap from 20 metres out from a penalty, and holding off his men to crash the ball over the line.
The Ospreys could have gone into the break in front, but Phil Jones’ penalty kick drifted just wide of the post.
The young fly-half missed two conversions later on in the game, but it did not affect the scoreline.
And the turning point in the game, a moment of madness from Georgia international Peikrishvili, took his team down to 14 men.
They made their man advantage count just two minutes after the sendingoff when Brendon Leonard squeezed a try into the right-hand corner.
O’Flaherty came into his own with two scintillating runs, either side of fellow replacement Dan Evans’ try, to put the game to bed.
Both teams fielded relatively young sides for the Anglo-Welsh Cup clash, many of whom experienced their first real taste of regional rugby.
And Tandy could not praise them enough, he said: “We had one of our young wingers Tom O’Flaherty, who put in a sterling performance tonight.
“When the game got a little bit loose, that’s when he came alive.
“There were a few players who impressed me tonight, especially in the scrum. James Ratti ended up coming on, also, our young 10 Phil Jones stepped up.
“He was a late call-up yesterday. To come in, on his debut, it’s a big achievement for him. It’s hopefully the first of many and he can now improve himself.”
The Ospreys were beaten by Saracens last week, so the performance at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night was the perfect response.
It’s Cardiff Blues’ second recent trouncing at the hands of the Ospreys – they were thrashed 46-24 at the Liberty Stadium last month.
Cardiff Blues elite performance pathway manager, Richard Hodges, said: “We’re disappointed with that last 10, 15 minutes with a couple of the tries. But, unfortunately it fell that way and O’Flaherty had a good impact on the game.
“The youngsters had a good go at it, but there’s no doubt the sending-off changed the game and it led to the scoreline.
“A red card is going to frustrate any coach and it did have an impact and a bearing on the game. It was an even contest until then.”