Ospreys 31 - 22 Edinburgh: Capital side fail in Wales again

Edinburgh's woes in Wales continued, a second defeat in five days and they may have flown 500 miles and then 500 miles more but in the end they fell down at both doors.

Edinburgh's Blair Kinghorn showed good handling skills. Picture: Bill Murray/SNS

Defeats in Newport and Swansea keep the capital club rooted near the bottom of the Guinness Pro12 table with just the Italian clubs below them and a bit of a gap opening up from the top six places.

A tough few days on the road, but Edinburgh will feel they stuck to their task despite being under huge pressure and down to 14 men for much of the second half.

Not many would have expected an Edinburgh win before the game. Those odds grew greater still when visiting centre Chris Dean was stretchered off after two minutes and it was the Ospreys who started the stronger with an early Sam Davies penalty the least they deserved for a period of pressure on the try line.

However Edinburgh hit straight back in some style straightaway, forcing a turnover in the Ospreys 22 from a loose ball and then showing excellent handling skills through Blair Kinghorn and James Ritchie to release left wing William Helu with a clear run to the corner.

Then it was the turn of the Ospreys to hit straight back with left wing Dafydd Howells coming from the blindside to create an extra man bursting through the middle, it was never in doubt he would have the pace to go all the way.

Worse soon followed for the visitors, the scrum had been under pressure from the start and a defensive effort went wrong with the ball getting lost between blindside Magnus Bradbury and No 8 Nasi Manu.

As the ball went loose, Ospreys No 8 Dan Baker picked up to score unopposed. Davies again added he conversion.

Edinburgh got their second try thanks to the televison match official’s decision after Damian Hoyland ran into opposing full back Dan Evans under a Weir kick, the ball bouncing loose to Kinghorn who sprinted for the corner. Weir added the conversion.

Ospreys forward power brought their third try from a lineout drive, finished by prop Ma’afu Fia, and Edinburgh pressure on the Ospreys line was also halted by a scrum penalty against them.

However Weir did narrow the gap just before half-time with a penalty for offside, but the Ospreys came out of the blocks fast in the second half with lock Alun Wyn Jones sjowing superb quick passing skills to put wing Keelan Giles in at the corner.

Edinburgh’s struggles were not helped when Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist was sin-binned as the penalty count mounted.

The Ospreys went back to the forwards with a series of scrums on the line but Edinburgh showed real commitment to hold out throughout the period they were down to 14 men.

When Gilchrist came back on prop Alan Dell was sin-binned, also for persistent infringing, but again Edinburgh were able to hold out.

In fact they went down the other end and managed to get the last word in terms of try-scoring. Fijian Viliame Mata has an eye for the line and he was able to squeeze over just before the end giving Weir an easy conversion.

They will take consolation from the finish against the odds.

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