Ospreys26Edinburgh19

On a night of 30 penalties but precious little else, the 2010 Grand Final winners looked to have spurned the chance of winning when Greig Laidlaw popped over his fourth penalty of the game, five minutes from time. However, with the game seemingly up, the Welsh region raced 70 metres, with ball in hand, to set up captain Justin Tipuric for a try former Wales outside half Dan Biggar duly converted.

It was cruel on coach Michael Bradley whose side had dug deep to keep the Ospreys at bay. For man of the match Laidlaw it was a sickening blow, especially as Ospreys’ replacement lock James Goode appeared to have knocked on shortly before Tipuric’s conclusive intervention.

Laidlaw, left out of the Scotland World Cup squad, said: “I got the feeling it was knock-on and probably looking at it again on the television screen, I am pretty aggravated, to say the least.

“I thought we stuck in well tonight after a bit of a doing from Cardiff last week, so to have it taken away from us like that, is very disappointing.

“I will have to look at it on the video again, but I actually thought we should have had a penalty up the other end when the ball was ripped out on the ground. Then they went the length of the field and scored. Perhaps we should have won the game or got a draw, but we have ended up with a defeat. The only consolation is a bonus point.”

Despite having kicked off their league campaign with a win over Leinster, the Ospreys made the worst possible start to this game. And how Edinburgh were pleased to accept such an early gift. A quickly taken penalty and punt from Laidlaw caught the Welsh region napping and as the ball bounced awkwardly in front of full-back Richard Fussell, Tim Visser picked up and touched down in the corner.

Although Laidlaw added the extras from the touchline, the Ospreys were level within three minutes, courtesy of a try from scrum half Rhys Webb. The 22-year-old successor to Bayonne-bound Mike Phillips nipped in for his second try of the season after the hosts had picked off clean line out ball in the Edinburgh 22.

For much of last season, the Ospreys’ were guilty of trying to run before they had mastered the art of walking. On this occasion they paid the penalty for not finishing a move that had genuine quality written all over it. Thankfully for Edinburgh, as Tipuric attempted to touch down, the ball bobbled free.

An injury to Kyle Traynor made life difficult for Edinburgh at scrum time and they were pushed back by an Ospreys’ side for whom Duncan Jones was a lynchpin. However, the visitors’ defence was sound and all the Ospreys had to show for the dominance was two Biggar penalties.

Laidlaw added a penalty to leave the sides locked at 13-13 at half time and though the Ospreys’ started the second half well, a break from Roddy Grant ended with a penalty for Edinburgh which Laidlaw converted.

Biggar levelled with his third, 90 seconds later and with neither side taking on board referee David Wilkinson’s orders, it was time for a long-overdue chat to the respective captains. When the Ospreys conceded a 12th penalty, the crowd began to voice their displeasure. Moments later they were ironic cheers as Wilkinson penalised Edinburgh for a tenth time

The Ospreys moved ahead, once again, when Biggar converted a penalty, 15 minutes from time and though Laidlaw slotted his fourth penalty after Ian Evans was yellow carded, Tipuric arrived just in time, to leave Edinburgh with only a bonus point to show for their troubles.

Scorers: Ospreys: Tries: Webb, Tipuric. Cons: Biggar 2. Pens: Biggar 4. Edinburgh: Try: Visser. Con: Laidlaw. Pens: Laidlaw 4.

Ospreys: Fussell; Phillips, Bishop, Beck, Dirksen; Biggar, Webb; Jones, Davies, Griffiths, Gough, Evans, Smith, Tipuric (capt), Thomas. Subs: Parker, Goode, Isaacs, Jarvis, King.

Edinburgh: Brown; Webster, Scott, King, Visser; Hunter, Laidlaw (capt); Traynor, Lawrie, Niven, Gilchrist, Lozada, Cox, Grant, Denton. Subs: Knight, Jones, Leck, Kelly, Turnbull, Hislop.

Referee: D Wilkinson (Ireland). Attendance: 5,171.