Full match report from the Guinness PRO14 Round 8 clash at Myreside.
- The Ospreys were made to suffer in Scotland on Saturday night as Edinburgh secured the full five points at Myreside.
- Looking to build on last weekend’s win over the Dragons at the Liberty Stadium, the Ospreys took an early lead with Dmitri Arhip’s try opening the scoring and Sam Davies adding five points.
- However, Edinburgh took full advantage of the extra man following a yellow card for Brendon Leonard eight minutes before half-time, taking the lead before the break and pulling away after the restart to condemn their visitors to defeat.
Jason Tovey was given an early chance to get the scoreboard moving, the Ospreys penalised for not rolling away, but the former Dragon pushed his kick across the posts and wide to the right with barely 150 seconds played.
The Ospreys soon settled into their rhythm though, setting up camp in the Edinburgh 22 where a series of penalties allowed them to go to the corner on each occasion. The pressure eventually told in the 12th minute, Arhip barging his way over the line from close range to score the games first try, Davies making no mistake with the conversion.
Tovey found the target with his second penalty attempt, getting Edinburgh on the board five minutes later after Rob McCusker was caught on the wrong side.
Despite that it was the Ospreys who continued to enjoy the better of it and after a prolonged spell of pressure in and around the Edinburgh 22 came to nothing Davies slotted over a penalty to restore his team’s seven-point lead.
Edinburgh had come into the game on the back of four consecutive wins and with confidence clearly high they struck back to level things just short of the half hour on their first meaningful foray into the opposition 22.
Dan Evans has done well to repel an initial attack up the Ospreys right, Tom Brown and Blair Kinghorn combining effectively but it was recycled well and three phases later there was no stopping Kinghorn from a similar position, the full back with the try, converted by Tovey.
Brendon Leonard was then shown a yellow card, referee Andrew Brace making it clear it was an accumulative sin-binning for the number of team offences, despite the penalty count showing that the hosts had offended more than the visitors.
Tovey was on target from the resulting penalty and Edinburgh led for the first time, with eight minutes remaining until the break.
The lead was soon six, Tovey again, from in front of the posts after Scott Baldwin had found himself isolated as the Ospreys tried to play the ball out of their 22.
HALF-TIME; EDINBURGH 16-10 OSPREYS
Still a man short at the restart the Ospreys needed to keep things tight but Edinburgh moved 13 clear almost immediately.
It was the combination of Kinghorn and James Johnstone that did the damage, punching a hole in the Ospreys midfield, and Nathan Fowles was left with the simplest of run-ins to go under the posts. The conversion from Tovey was as easy as they come and the scopreboard now read 23-10.
As the clock moved through 50 minutes the pressure from the hosts was relentless as they went through an incredible three dozen phases, pressing and probing. The Ospreys defence was resolute and, eventually, Leonard was able to gather a loose pass, Davies clearing up to halfway.
All the possession had to tell eventually though and with 54 minutes gone it was Tovey who drifted clear as Edinburgh ran a loose kick back, scoring try number three for the hosts before adding the extras.
The Ospreys kept plugging away but although they were able to gain some possession in Edinburgh territory either side of the hour, they were unable to do anything with it, conceding turnover ball cheaply too often.
With the clock running down there was no doubt over who was going to claim the win but Edinburgh were chasing a try bonus, a scrum penalty inside the last four minutes allowing them to go to the corner in pursuit of that fourth try.
It eventually came, with time up, as Magnus Bradbury twisted and turned to find his way over after the pack had done the hard work, Tovey’s boot rounding off the night.