Last gasp Ospreys try denies Connacht at the death

Connacht 17

It was a tough night for Connacht as they went down to a last minute try to Ospreys in Bridgend. Having come from a 17 - 3 down it looked like the Conference rivals would be sharing the points but Dan Evans last minute try stole it at the death.

A quickfire first-half double from Keelan Giles put Ospreys 10-0 up after only eight minutes. Although they were slow to settle, Connacht got off the mark with a Jack Carty drop goal after twelve minutes to leave it 10-3 to the visitors. While Connacht were twice camped on the Ospreys line they just couldn’t get over and the teams went in at the break with the seven point gap on the scoreboard and all to play for in the second half.

Despite going down to 14 men it was Ospreys who drew first blood in the second period. Harri Morgan’s try on fifty one minutes put two converted tries between the sides and it looked like there was no way back for Connacht.

But Connacht refused to roll over and late tries from Bundee Aki and Jarrad Butler, both superbly converted by Jack Carty, levelled up the scores at 17-17.

Then with time almost up Cory Allen’s break set up Evans and he dived over and seal a home win for the Ospreys.

Connacht’s next challenge is a home fixture against the Dragons on Saturday 3^rd of November.

OSPREYS: D Evans; H Dirksen, C Allen, T Thomas-Wheeler, K Giles; S Davies, H Morgan; R Jones, S Otten, T Botha; L Ashley, J King; D Lydiate, O Cracknell, R McCusker.

Replacements: J Ratti for McCusker (37-40 mins) & for Ashley (69), S Baldwin for Otten (63), T Williams for Giles (69), G Thomas for Jones (72), A Jeffries for Botha (72).

CONNACHT: T O’Halloran; N Adeolokun, T Farrell, B Aki, C Kelleher; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham,; U Dillane, Q Roux; S O’Brien, J Butler, P Boyle.

Replacements: Faingaa for Boyle (11 mins), C Blade for Marmion (50), Godwin for Adeolokun (55), Delahunt for McCartney (57), Carey for Bealham (67), Cannon for Roux (69), O’Donnell for Buckley (80).