A difficult task laid in wait for the travelling Ospreys, who faced an Ulster side brimming with confidence having come away from Scotstoun with a victory over Glasgow Warriors.
It was a 7-all scoreline at half time, with tries from Ospreys winger Keelan Giles in the opening minutes of the game followed by a try from Ulster scrumhalf John Cooney in the final minute of the half.
However, it was Ulster who drew first blood in the second half, with a powerful maul getting over the line and hooker John Andrew grounding the ball to take the lead. Cooney had no issues converting the try and Ulster took the lead for the first time that evening. The hosts were far more lively in the second half, and their next score came directly from referee Sean Gallagher, who deemed Ospreys fullback Dan Evans’ attempt to intercept the ball a deliberate knock on, sending him to the sin bin and awarding Ulster a penalty try.
Ospreys spent much of the second half on the back foot, defending wave after wave of Ulster charges; and unable regain their momentum of the first half. The visitors held out until the end, and denied the hosts a bonus point.
Despite the loss, there were some excellent performances among the travelling side, with prop Gareth Thomas, lock Rhys Davies, and back rowers Olly Cracknell and Morgan Morris grafting hard to combat the bulky Ulster pack. In the backs, scrumhalf Rhys Webb was as lively as ever causing trouble for the hosts and setting up Giles’ try with a charge down and a hack on; while centre Keiran Williams was a handful for the midfield when he got his hands on the ball. Winger Luke Morgan provided plenty of threat from deep once he got going, but unfortunately suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury on the cusp of half-time.
Rhys Webb spoke after the game:
“I’m very proud of the effort they put in. We know we had to improve from last week, and we came out well and set the tone. But if we want to beat the likes of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, we have to play for the 80 minutes and we conceded a few easy tries.
“I do enjoy leading the team and I’m enjoying playing week in week out. We’ve got a young bunch of boys and it’s helping them learn. We want to be where Ulster are now at the top of the conference.
“The coaches have placed their template down, and It’s down to the players now to back their confidence.”