It was a brisk and cloudy evening in Swansea as the Ospreys welcomed Zebre to the Liberty. In the return fixture in Parma, Zebre managed to keep the Ospreys out at the death to secure victory on home soil.
Toby Booth’s men were aiming to set things right this weekend, with Rhys Webb picking up the captaincy in Justin Tipuric’s absence.
It was an error strewn first quarter, with neither side able to get on the score sheet. It was the visitors who got nearest, with two forays into Ospreys territory, but unable to get over the line. A missed penalty each from Zebre outside Antonio Rizzi and outside half Josh Thomas kept the score at 0-0 for the majority of the first half. In fact, the first points of the game came after 40th minute, as Ospreys’ Thomas banged the ball over from just outside the 22 to give his side a narrow lead just before the break.
The second half was much the same as the first, with neither side able to capitalise on their possession. That changed on the 75th minute as scrumhalf Webb showed his class once more with an explosive break down the tramlines. There was no stopping the half-back and the score allowed Thomas to add the extras and take Ospreys ten points clear with only four minutes left to play.
Despite another late effort to add some more points to the scoreboard, the game ended with the Ospreys 10-0 victors and maintain their 2021 unbeaten run.