With the international break ending for Scotland last week, Edinburgh hosted the Ospreys at the Hive for a cold mid-table URC showdown. With Edinburgh seeing some players return from international call up, Ospreys miss a few given Wales’ battering against South Africa earlier in the afternoon.
The ball was presented by Robin ‘Bomber’ Hislop and the crowd roared as Ben Lancaster ran on for his 50th Edinburgh Appearance.
The Ospreys took the momentum early, seizing the majority of possession and being dominant in the breakdown for the first 15 minutes. This pressure culminated in 2 lineouts back to back on Edinburgh’s 5m line. Ospreys mauled over the line from the second lineout looking to be first on the board, but their attempt was held up, leaving the Ospreys wanting more.
Edinburgh saw this as their opportunity to take back some momentum and ignite the home crowd. Over the next 5 minutes they pressed Ospreys back into their own 22 and themselves had the chance of 2 lineouts 5 metres from Ospreys’ try line. However, after a knock on the swans clear the ball and relieve themselves of some pressure.
Ospreys’ winger Daniel Kasende made a break in his own half, palming off his opposite man and carrying the ball into Edinburgh’s 22. A quick handoff saw Edinburgh looking at conceding their first try, but hooker Harri Morris did well to get back and tackle the runner 2 metres from the line, only for the ball to be passed from the ground to Luke Davies who opened the evenings scoring for the Ospreys. 0-5
This looked like a bit of a wake up call for Edinburgh, seeing how easily Ospreys had broken through once again they took their engines into another gear for the last 10 minutes of the half, with fresh legs of Magnus Bradbury coming on due to a HIA for Liam McConnell aiding the reignition. Edinburgh took charge and pushed quickly into Ospreys’ half. A 5m lineout eventually led to a try from Tom Currie who barrelled through after some phase play, scoring his first for Edinburgh and levelling the points before the half. 5-5
Except! Edinburgh were keen to keep their energy and looked to be on for another as the clock began to tick over, however Ospreys pressure kept them at bay and a tackle into touch had the ref whistling for the boys to run in for some half-time oranges.
As the second half kicks off Ospreys looked as they did at the start of the first, strong and in charge. A line break Max Nagy saw the ball to Luke Davies and on to Gwilym Evans before Ross Moriarty fended off the Edinburgh defence. Popping the ball out of the ruck, Phil Cokanasiga dashed over the line to put the Swans ahead once again. 5-10
This marked the end of Ospreys’ domination. Edinburgh replaced try scorer Tom Currie with Magnus Bradbury, crowd favourite Prop Pierre Schoeman with Boan Venter and Callum Hunter-Hill with Marshall Sykes and found themselves winning penalty after penalty. A lineout 10 metres from Ospreys try line formed into a maul, with cries of ‘heave’ from the home fans, Harri Morris equalised one again, scoring his first try at home. The first successful conversion of the evening soon followed from 10 Ross Thompson which took Edinburgh into the lead for the first time of the evening. 12-10.
Ospreys decided they needed to make some changes and brough on ‘the Swan squad’, swapping their whole front row. While these changes did help to ease some Edinburgh pressure, it wasn’t enough, with Edinburgh’s own changes keeping the pressure on and getting Edinburgh another lineout on Ospreys’ 5m mark. The ball was taken into a maul but Ospreys held the drive back, but with men drawn in Edinburgh were able to put a little grubber kick through on the boot of Finlay Thompson. Harry Paterson gathered and secured another 5 between the posts. With another successful conversion from Cammy Scott, Edinburgh found themselves leading comfortably with 10 minutes to play. 19-10.
Ospreys saw these last 25 minutes and decided enough was enough, where was the Ospreys from the start of each half? Winning a scrum, then a penalty, then a lineout they crawled back towards Edinburgh try line. With 5 minutes to go they drove into a maul before taking the ball out wide and into the hands of Evardi Boshoff who, with a successful conversion from Co Captain Jack Walsh but Ospreys tantalizingly close to stealing the win back at the last moment. 19-17
With 2 minutes to go, Edinburgh win a scrum penalty and kick to corner, taking their time to set up as to give Ospreys as little opportunity as possible to steal their win away. The lineout saw Edinburgh push for a bonus point 4th try and as the ball came out wide it seemed as though they’d get it, but luck wasn’t on their side. Ospreys won the ball and grounded it in the dead ball zone, ending the game and waking up Edinburgh from their bonus point dream.
Edinburgh 12 Findlay Thomson was awarded player of the match.
The first week of the Investec Champions Cup sees Edinburgh take on Toulon and Ospreys Connacht next Sunday. Looking ahead to facing the French side, Sean Everitt said “with everyone coming back in this week in different stages and a couple of guys resting, maybe there was a bit of lack of keyness, but we should have that right by next Sunday.”
