05-08-2010, 02:29 AM
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#21 (permalink)
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Pensacola, FL
Posts: 588
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In Round 18...
Ospreys v Dragons:
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Ospreys secured a home tie in the Magners League play-off semi-finals with a 42-10 bonus-point victory over the Dragons at the Liberty Stadium in the last match of the regular league season.
The hosts saw off their Welsh regional rivals by five tries to one with skipper Ryan Jones, Dan Biggar, who scored 22 points, Nikki Walker and Ryan Bevington adding to a first-half penalty try which highlighted the Ospreys' dominance up front. The home side fielded 15 full internationals in their starting line-up, while the depleted Dragons had 14 players out injured including openside flanker Gavin Thomas, who pulled out of the side before the kick-off.
Ospreys put the Dragons on the back foot with Biggar kicking penalties after five and eight minutes and a penalty try after three five-metre scrums cemented their lead. Biggar and his opposite number Jason Tovey swapped penalties in the space of two minutes but the remaining 12 minutes of half were forgettable as the Ospreys chose to get embroiled in a kicking game rather than put it through the hands.
The Ospreys forward dominance was evident nine minutes into the second half when Ryan Jones went in for a pushover try. A poor line-out from the Ospreys allowed the Dragons to pounce for their only try, which was scored by scrum-half Wayne Evans. And with prop Aaron Coundley in the sin-bin for continual collapsing of the scrum the Ospreys scored two more tries for Biggar, who finished off an impressive counter attack, and Walker. The icing was put on the cake five minutes from the end when replacement prop Bevington went over in the left corner.
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Glasgow v Scarlets:
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Glasgow secured a 37-32 bonus-point win over the Scarlets in a free-flowing encounter at Parc y Scarlets to maintain their outside hopes of a home semi-final. The Warriors, with fly-half Dan Parks outstanding, must now hope Scottish rivals Edinburgh can do them a favour against Leinster in Dublin on Sunday after the Ospreys notched up the bonus point they needed against the Dragons.
Parks kicked 17 points, while opposite number, Wales and Lions No.10 Stephen Jones, landed 22 for the home side to write himself into the Scarlets' record books as their leading points scorer of all time. Glasgow had gone into the game having already secured their place in the inaugural end-of-season play-offs.
The visitors outscored their hosts four tries to three with winger DTH van der Merwe and flanker Calum Forrester crossing in the first half and centre Hefin O'Hare and fullback Bernardo Stortoni added further scores after the break. Tries from fullback Dan Evans and winger Lee Williams saw the Scarlets go into the break just one point adrift and despite taking the lead early in the second half thanks to Jones they were unable to hold off their play-off bound rivals.
Ulster secured eighth place in the table with a thumping six-try 41-10 bonus point win in their final game over Connacht, who finish bottom of the table for another season. Tries from Simon Danielli, Ian Humphreys, replacement Andi Kyriacou, Ian Whitten, Dan Tuohy and Jamie Smith brought the home side back-to-back league wins.
It finishes off what has been a disappointing season for Brian McLaughlin's squad, although they were too strong for Connacht on their coach Michael Bradley's last game in charge. The only low point was a suspected ankle injury to Rory Best which saw the Ireland hooker leave the field early in the second half and could have an impact on Ireland's tour to New Zealand and Australia next month.
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