Ospreys' double Irish delight
Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:04
Ospreys overtook Munster at the top of the Magners League table with an impressive 43-0 whitewash of Ulster at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea, on Saturday.
The bonus-point victory saw the Welsh region move five points clear of their Irish rivals at the top, but with the latter having two games in hand. One of those will be played on Sunday when Munster are away to fellow Irish province Leinster.
The six-try victory by Ospreys on Saturday saw Ulster entrenched at the bottom of the League.
Three points from four games is not the start the Ravenhill faithful were looking for, but the turnaround they crave was always unlikely to come at the expense of an Ospreys side that has clicked seamlessly into gear.
That former Ulster wing Tommy Bowe sealed the bonus point for his new side when he controlled and grounded James Hook's perfectly weighted kick with half an hour to go, will only serve to add to the misery in Matt Williams' camp.
The result leaves them two points adrift of Connacht who, like Williams' side, failed to even register a point against Welsh opposition this weekend when they were crushed 58-0 by Cardiff on Friday.
Saturday's whitewash wasn't quite as emphatic, but it painted a bleak picture as to how much work Williams and co have to do if they are to avoid missing out on European Cup action next season.
As it is, Ulster played virtually the entire second half with 14 men, after three players - Matt McCullough (47th minute), BJ Botha (67) and Stephen Ferris (74) - were yellow carded.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Tries: Wells, Hook, Williams, Bowe, Byrne, R Jones
Cons: Hook 5
Pens: Hook
For Ulster:
None
Yellow cards: Matt McCullough (Ulster, 47), BJ Botha (Ulster, 67), Stephen Ferris (Ulster, 74)
Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Tommy Bowe, 12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Daniel Biggar, 9 Rhodri Wells, 8 Tom Smith, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Andy Lloyd, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James (captain).
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Ian Gough, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Rhys Webb, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Gavin Henson.
Ulster: 15 Bryn Cunningham, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Andrew Trimble, 11 Clinton Schifcofske, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Kieron Dawson, 6 Matt McCullough, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Carlo Del Fava (captain), 3 Brendon Botha, 2 Nigel Brady, 1 Justin Fitzpatrick.
Replacements: 16 Stuart Phillpott, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Stephen Ferris, 20 Paul Marshall, 21 Ian Humphreys, 22 Paul Steinmetz.
Referee: Peter Allan
