ANDY FRIEND RUED a huge missed opportunity as his Connacht side suffered a disappointing last-gasp 22-17 defeat to a weakened Ospreys side in Bridgend last night.
With the likes of Bundee Aki, Ultan Dillane and Quinn Roux in their team, Connacht were up against a home outfit missing all but one of their Wales international contingent.
Nevertheless, they were unable to come out on top as the visitors were made to pay for a slow start – one in which they conceded two tries inside the first nine minutes – and failed to turn their periods of dominance into points. As a result, they lost further ground on their Guinness Pro14 rivals.
Friend said: “We knew Ospreys had a lot of players out, so this is definitely a missed opportunity for us. We had a slow start and there was a lack of energy about us, which was disappointing. I thought we did well to get back to 17-17, but then we lose the game in the final play. It’s a big blow.
“On the whole, I thought we were flat and we talked about rectifying that at half-time. We did that and got in a position to win, but we didn’t capitalise.”
Ospreys took total control as Keelan Giles scored two early tries, neither of which were converted by out-half Sam Davies. All Connacht could manage in the first-half was a Jack Carty drop-goal.
At 10-3 up, Ospreys saw number eight Rob McCusker yellow-carded for a high shot on Cian Kelleher when the second half began. A man light, the boys in black and white actually moved further clear.
The excellent Cory Allen roared away and showed fine vision to find Harri Morgan on his inside. The 18-year-old scrum-half – on his Pro14 debut – did the rest. Davies converted.
Connacht got on the comeback trail when Aki, and then captain Jarrad Butler, crossed, with Carty’s two conversions levelling the game. At that stage Connacht looked the only possible winners, but after Carty hooked a drop-goal attempt wide, Allen roared clear out of nowhere and Dan Evans was the eventual beneficiary. His 80th-minute try saw Connacht beaten at the death.
“When the Ospreys were down to 14 men we didn’t capitalise and they actually won that period 7-0. That’s a big area of concern for, us to be honest,” Friend added.
“I don’t think us being favourites for the game was part of us losing. We’ve normally started the first 20 minutes in games well this season. This was the first time it didn’t happen.
“I don’t know what it was, but I’ll pay credit to the Ospreys. They played a smart game and turned us around which we struggled to cope with. We have to bounce back from this result now.”
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Really annoying, sloppy and unprofessional performance from Connacht. A young Ospreys team were allowed to get on the front foot due to two huge errors from TO’H and Kelleher. The two lads are good for a significant error in most games, last night they had them within minutes of each other. Back three is an area that needs some serious attention I’d suggest – their first job is to defend and that just hasn’t been happening effectively over the last couple of seasons.
Hugely disappointing. The push in the lineout really annoyed me though. Their number 8 should have seen a second yellow for and gone for that. Ridiculous. Could have been a different outcome then, however we did struggle earlier against 14 men. To allow Ospreys come out of that with 5 points could be huge later in the year. Need a massive performance next week against dragons.
Hugely disappointing. Backs very sloppy. As Darragh states above the back three were just not good enough tonight. TOH’s decline over the past two years has been pitiful. If fit, it’s now time to play Leader at 15. Niyi had a nightmare last night too, and a starting place needs to be found for Godwin. Blade also improved things greatly when brought on and it has to be said is playing better than Marmion at the moment.
@David Finn: couldn’t agree more. I just feel there’s been a stagnation among the back 3, like where’s the standards lads? It’s sad to see Tiernan go from someone who it was felt was on the cusp of an international breakthrough to not even being in the conversation anymore. Kelleher started off like a steam train after his move from Leinster but through injuries lost momentum. I was hoping after a full pre-season he would play himself back into form but that’s not the first time this season he has made that same mistake, and he is hesitant on 50/50 balls. As for Niyi? It seems a long way from the guy who was hitting rucks and securing turnovers in 2016. Maybe this is why they were after Sevu Reece, trying to shake things up? You’re right about Godwin, too much class to leave on the bench.
So close at the end, Connacht put in a clever tap out of hand just before Ospreys put down, was good work, unfortunately it went forward and Ospreys were all over it after that.