Dominant Ospreys out-muscle the weakened Sharks

■By ROGER PANTING

mance from them and a tion has to be made of the 30 metres out from his own

Ospreys …………. 20pts

Tries: Morris 32, Giles 46, Morgan-Williams 48

Conversions: O Williams 49

Penalties: O Williams 25

Sale ……………….. 15pts

Tries: Reed 61, B Curry 69

Conversions: R du Preez 69

Penalties: R du Preez 3

A TERRIFIC atmosphere at the Brewery Field lifted Ospreys to a notable success at a windswept and rain-sodden Bridgend.

Early doors, Sale looked up for the fight but in the end they were no match for highly-motivated Ospreys who secured a quarterfinal at Gloucester on Friday night.

Dominant in the scrums, their back row tackled tirelessly with young hooker Lewis Lloyd having a fine game despite being calledup at short notice for hamstring victim Sam Parry.

Sale had a couple of chances in the opening quarter, which they failed to take, and were given a lesson in that area as Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams took their opportunities in style.

Sale fielded a decent team but star backs, George Ford, Manu Tuilagi and Tom Roebuck, were all rested from their lineup. In contrast, Ospreys selected their best available side.

Sale began strongly to take an early lead. Tom O'Flaherty recovered the kick-off before Robert du Preez was obstructed by Gareth Thomas with du Preez kicking the resulting penalty.

Ospreys, playing with the advantage of a keen wind, had their first chance for points by Owen Williams' penalty attempt from the half-way line fell short.

It was a third error from Williams in the first 10 minutes as he had twice kicked the ball directly out of play, losing his side valuable territory.

The home side conceded five penalties in the first 15 minutes and Sale should have benefitted by scoring the opening try but Arron Reed elected to go it alone instead of providing the scoring pass.

The penalty by du Preez was the only score of the opening quarter, in which Ospreys had struggled to fire a single shot.

The only area in which Ospreys had dominance was in the scrum where they won three penalties in quick succession, the last of which Williams kicked to bring the scores level.

Mercer was on hand to out for Gloucester's third. the quarter-final.

That score was the spur the Welsh region needed and they went on to score an excellent try which belied the conditions.

From a ruck 30 metres out, they won possession for tip-passes from Owen Williams and Jack Walsh to create space for Owen Watkin to send Morgan Morris racing over in the corner.

Williams missed the conversion but his side still held an 8-3 interval lead. The game was firmly in the balance but Ospreys hit their opponents with two tries in three minutes.

First great inter-play between Owen Williams, Keelan Giles and Morgan-Williams saw Giles squeeze over before Morgan-Williams intercepted a pass from Rob du Preez to outpace the cover defence on a 65 metre run to the line.

Sale now had a mountain to climb but they rallied with an impressive solo try from Reed, who rounded Walsh with ease.

Ben Curry set Ospreys' nerves jangling when he was awarded a try from a driving lineout despite appearing to lose ball before touchdown.

Williams had a chance to calm those nerves but his 40 metre penalty attempt into the win fell short but two minutes from the end he made amends from 25 metres to seal victory.