The Ospreys came back from 11 points down in the last six minutes, to record a famous win in South Africa. Late tries from Keelan Giles, Cameron Jones, and Morgan Morse sealed the victory, as poor discipline cost the home side.
By Etienne Turpin
The Lions came into this match with a 100% record against the Ospreys having won the previous two encounters in the URC (28-27 in Swansea, and 45-15 in Johannesburg). The Ospreys made a couple of changes to the starting XV which beat Perpignan last Friday with James Ratti switching to second row following an injury to James Fender.
The Lions suffered a setback in the fourth minute when prop PJ Botha was penalised for leading with a forearm, but was only shown a yellow card as the initial contact was on the chest. The Ospreys were given the opportunity to open the scoring moments later, but Dan Edwards’ penalty sailed wide of the post.
The Lions punished the Ospreys for this miss, 60 seconds later as they won a penalty inside the Ospreys’ half, and Nohamba made no mistake from the tee.
The Lions began to look dominant and pushed the Ospreys back to their 22m, but Lombard had a minute to forget, as his initial cross field kick was poorly hit and Protheroe gathered before clearing down field. Then, Lombards following clearance was charged down by Owen Watkin, who collected the ball to score the first try of the match.
The Ospreys’ lead would not last long however, as Marius Louw was first to react a cute kick over the defence from Nohamba, to score his fourth try of the season. Marius Louw was heavily involved in the action, and almost set up a try minutes later but his offload to JC Pretorius went forward.
The visiting side would retake the lead after 25 minutes through George North, when Iestyn Hopkins; who was awarded MOTM last Friday, gave the Ospreys great attacking territory with a lovely 50-22. The ball was shifted to the midfield and the Welsh centurion powered past Lombard, before dotting the ball down.
Richard Kriel almost went over, as the Lions won the ball back from kick off. He was unable to ground the ball, after some great cover defence from the Ospreys held up the winger.
The hosts continued to apply pressure and thought that they had scored a try, as Ruben Schoeman powered over from close range after several phases close to the Ospreys line. A TMO intervention determined that Schoeman was tackled before scoring, and ruled out the try. The Lions were eventually rewarded as JC Pretorius crashed over to reduce the gap to one point, but Nohamba was once again unsuccessful with the conversion.
The Lions were taking control of the game up in the Highveld with temperatures coming close to 30 degrees, and they scored their third try of the game from a nice line-out set piece. Edwill Van Der Merwe found a gap in the defence, before passing to his captain Louw who crossed over for his second of the game, which saw the Lions retake the lead just before half time. From a difficult angle, Nohamba hit the post to leave the scores at 18-14.
After a powerful first half, Lions captain Marius Louw was sent to the bin just seconds into the second half for a shoulder charge on his opposite number Owen Watkins. The hosts controlled the sin bin period magnificently, keeping the ball in hand and extended their lead to seven points. as Nohamba added three with a penalty.
Edwards brought the Ospreys back to within four points, with a penalty minutes after the Lions’ captain Louw returned. The Lions roared back to score their fourth try to secure a bonus point, as substitute Morne Van Der Berg played a penalty quickly to crash over. This was after quick hands in midfield saw the Lions move up field through Kriel.
The Ospreys came close to scoring a brilliant try with numerous offloads involving Morgan Morse and Mat Protheroe, but the winger couldn’t hold on to a pass just 5m out from the try line.
The Lions’ discipline was poor throughout the game and just after coming on, Hanru Sirgel was sent off for 10 minutes, after slapping the ball down. But just like the previous two sin bin periods, the Lions were solid in defence and won a penalty at the breakdown. Another penalty saw the Lions move within 5m of the Ospreys try line, and they almost scored a fifth try, only to lose control over the line.
With less than 10 minutes left to play, the Ospreys went over to score, as Kieran Williams linked up with Keelan Giles for the try under the posts. Keelan Giles is on fine form in recent weeks, scoring his fourth try in three games.
The Ospreys then scored a wonderful try to take the lead with less than five minutes to go. With an extra man they moved up the field with confidence, before prop Cameron Jones made a 30 metre break. He then popped a pass to Owen Watkin who was tackled just short, but then offloaded to scrum half Cameron Jones for the walk-in score.
Minutes later, with the Lions chasing the game, Morgan Morse who turned 19 just days ago, intercepted a pass and ran in from 50 metres, to give the Ospreys a sensational win in South Africa
Speaking to Super Sports, Ospreys head coach Toby Booth described the game as a ‘character test’. Playing at altitude in high heat, the Ospreys youngsters showed brilliant character to fight back to claim a big win in round 4 of the Challenge Cup.
EMIRATES LIONS: 28
TRIES: 1 (Louw 18’, 39’ Pretorius 35’, Van Der Berg 57’)
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Nohamba 57’)
PENALTIES: 2 (Nohamba 10’, 50’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 2 (Botha 5’, Louw 41’, Sirgel 67’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Quan Horn, 14. Richard Kriel, 13. Henco Van Wyk, 12. Marius Louw, 11. Edwill Van Der Merwe, 10. Gianni Lombard, 9. Sanele Nohamba, 1. JP Smith, 2. PJ Botha, 3. Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 5. Reinhard Nothnagel, 6. JC Pretorius, 7. Emmanuel Tshituka, 8. Francke Horn.
16. Jaco Visagie, 17. Morgan Naude, 18. Ruan Dreyer, 19. Darrien Landsberg, 20. Hanru Sirgel, 21. Morne Van Den Berg, 22. Kade Wolhuter, 23. Erich Cronje.
OSPREYS: 38
TRIES: 2 (Watkin 15’, North 25’, Giles 73’ Jones 76, Morse 78’)
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Edwards 16’, 26’, Walsh 74’ 76’, 80’)
PENALTIES: 1 (Edwards 53’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS:
RED CARDS: 0
15. Iestyn Hopkins, 14. Mat Protheroe, 13. George North, 12. Owen Watkin, 11. Keelan Giles, 10. Dan Edwards, 9. Reuben Morgan-Williams, 1. Rhys Henry, 2. Sam Parry, 3. Tom Botha, 4. James Ratti, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Will Hickey, 7. Harri Deaves, 8. Morgan Morse
16. Ethan Lewis, 17. Cameron Jones, 18. Ben Warren, 19. Lewis Jones, 20. Tristan Davies, 21. Cameron Jones, 22. Jack Walsh, 23. Kieran Williams.
5 TALKING POINTS: Emirates Lions 28-38 Ospreys
- The Ospreys keep winning.
The Ospreys kept their fine form going with another big win in the Challenge Cup as they scored three late tries to beat the Lions. The Welsh side have now won five of their last six matches, and are getting better in each game.
2. Ill-discipline proves costly for Lions.
The Lions looked in control of the game and even managed to score when down to 14 men. But, three yellow cards, and 30 minutes down to 14 men proved to be costly, as the Ospreys made the most of the extra man in the end.
3. Keelan Giles on hot form scores again.
The young Welsh winger has had an eye for the try line in recent weeks, as he crossed over once again to make it four tries in three games. The winger combined well with substitute Kieran Williams and scored a decisive try to keep the Ospreys in the game.
4. The Ospreys seal a home knock out game.
With three Challenge Cup wins from four, the Ospreys; who had already booked their place in the round of 16, have been rewarded with a home tie. They will face off against a side that has been freshly demoted from the Champions Cup.
5. Brilliant Harri Deaves shows how good he can be.
The Ospreys have suffered multiple injuries over the recent weeks, but have a repertoire of young talented players coming through. Harri Deaves showed his class today, and he was awarded player of the match.