North try completes Ospreys’ fightback
WORCESTER’S European hopes hang by a thread after Ospreys won an eight try thriller at Sixways.
After last week’s last minute defeat in France, Warriors badly needed a victory but Ospreys turned the screw in the last 15 minutes to deprive Worcester of even a losing bonus point.
Once again, Worcester will be disappointed that they failed to close out the game as they looked likely winners when they held a healthy lead but Ethan Waller’s yellow card proved the turning point.
In the first half, their front-five struggled against stronger opponents but four quick replacements seemed to have turned the tide.
Despite whole-hearted performances from Ashley Beck and Ollie Lawrence, Ospreys had a bit more invention with Dan Evans and George North testing the home defence.
Prior to kick-off, Warriors lost centre Francois Venter and flanker Sam Lewis both to illness with former Osprey, Ashley Beck, and Marco Mama coming into the starting line-up.
Worcester suffered further setbacks when two simple penalties from Stephen Myler gave Ospreys an early lead as the hosts conceded four penalties in the opening 12 minutes.
Jamie Shillcock missed a straightforward penalty but it was his side that scored the first try. Nick David and Beck made strong bursts to put the defence on the back foot before Ollie Lawrence powered through a couple of tackles to score.
Shillcock converted before Ospreys suffered an injury blow when Owen Watkin was forced to leave the field just before Worcester extended their lead when Melani Nanai raced clear from 20 metres out.
Myler had a chance to kick his third penalty but Ospreys opted for a driving line-out and it paid immediate dividends as they won a penalty try award with Warriors’ Richard Palframan, sin-binned for collapsing the maul.
In the prop’s absence, the Welsh region repeated the dose with Sam Parry finishing off another unstoppable drive to give his side an 18-12 interval lead.
Four minutes after the restart, Worcester were back up to 15 and at the same time they introduced first choice forwards, Niall Annett, Ethan Waller and Andrew Kitchener, to beef up their pack.
Following an excellent chase and tackle from Shillcock, Dan Evans was penalised for not releasing for Shillcock to step up and kick a penalty.
Worcester regained the lead when a strong run from Beck sent Billy Searle over before Warriors collected their bonus point when Ospreys blundered at a line-out in their own 22 for Ted Hill to pick up and score.
Ethan Waller was yellow carded for a deliberate offside with Ospreys taking advantage as replacement Morgan Morris forced his way over from close range with Myler’s conversion making it a four-point deficit going into the last ten minutes.
Waller returned to steady the ship but George North scored the decisive try as he broke through tackles to extinguish Worcester’s European hopes with Myler’s conversion and two late penalties sealing victory.