HEARTBREAK AS OSPREYS CLING ON TO WIN BY A POINT

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Twenty years ago, in 1995, tradition changed – no longer were the Boxing Day crowds entertained by the London Welsh team, but the local derby tradition began. For the fourth time in the history of Parc y Scarlets, a sell-out crowd gathered in Parc y Scarlets for the first of a festive back-to-back against arch rivals the Ospreys. With the home team currently top of the Guinness Pro 12, it would make the Christmases of every staunch Scarlets supporter if a victory in THE game of the season today would see that position remain unchanged.

It was the men in red that won the initial territory battle, with the first minutes of the game being played in the Ospreys 22, however it was the wrong team that was in posession. They certainly demonstrated their intenet though with the option to kick for the corner rather than slot over an early three points. Despite driving forward, Morgan Allen was unable to hold on to the ball and the Scarlets faced their first scrum of the game.

The Scarlets first real attack of the game saw the team as a whole passing the ball freely before John Barclay burst through the Ospreys defence to score in the corner. Aled Thomas added the tricky conversion to give the home team a 7 point to 0 advantage. However, the Ospreys were offered an immediate chance to cut the defecit with Dan Biggar kicking the first penalty attempt of the match to cut the Scarlets’ lead to 4 points – 7 points to 3. Fortunately, Aled Thomas soon cancelled out this penalty to restore the Scarlets’ lead to 10 points to 3.

Another penalty from Biggar again kept the Ospreys in the game – 10 points to 6, however, the visitors straying off-side in their own 22 saw another penalty and again Thomas made no mistake in keeping the scoreboard ticking over – 13 points to 6.

A superb kick saw the Ospreys deep in the Scarlets’ 22, and despite the home team securing the line-out, Aled Davies’ clearing kick was charged down and the Scarlets faced a scrum v. Unfortunately, the forward power of the Ospreys front five proved too strong for the Scarlets and Wing Hanno Dirksen dived over for the Ospreys first try of the afternoon. Biggar’s conversion drew the scores level at 13 points all.

Another penalty, and another decision to kick for the corner rather than going for the 3 points rather than resotre the lead for the home team saw the Scarlets inch ever closer to the try line, testing the Ospreys defence before Aled Davies squeezed over from under a pile of bodies to claim the try. The 100% kicking record continued as Aled Thomas slotted over the conversion to give his side a 20 point to 13 lead with half time fast approaching.

Despite a high tackle from Steffan Evans, referee Nigel Owens deemed that it was unintentional and not malicious and play went back for the initial Scarlets penalty where again the decision was made to kick for the corner rather than goal, with the hope that the outcome would be the same as the other 2 occasions.

Unfortunately this was not the case and worse was to come for the Scarlets as Jake Ball was yellow carded just on the stroke of half time for tackling a player on his knees and with several minutes of injury time played at the end of the half, Captain Alun Wyn Jones somehow sneaked over for the fourth try of the half. Biggar added the conversion that saw the teams tied at 20 points all at half time.

The Scarlets were able to re-gain their lead right at the start of the second half as Outside Half Thomas slotted over an easy penalty – 23 points to 20.

As Jake Ball returned to the pitch, the home team also managed to withstand a powerful onslaught from the men in white before they were back on the attack once more. Hugely thanks to the crowd drawing attention to Josh Matavesi’s tip tackle on the big screen, Nigel Owens awarded another penalty to the Scarlets for the dangerous tackle, however the Scarlets’ faithful demonstrated their disapproval in his failure to show any card. Aled Thomas made no mistake in slotting over his second successful kick of the half to give the Scarlets a 26 points to 20 lead.

Sloppy tackling from the Scarlets (and a Scarlets player being taken out) and amazingly a powerful run down the Wing from Prop Dmitri Arhip before he passed to Eli Walker, saw the Wing stroll over unopposed for the Ospreys’ third try. Biggar’s conversion gave the Ospreys the lead for the first time in the game by just a point – 26 points to 27.

As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, another simple penalty attempt from Biggar sailed to the left of the posts, to the delight of the majority of the crowd.

With just five minutes remaining, the Scarlets threw everything at the Ospreys, however the ball spilled forward and the Ospreys were back in posession to slow things down and play out the clock until the end of the game playing percentage rugby.

The Scarlets never gave up and managed to not only secure a penalty to get them back into the Ospreys half, but it was heart break for the home fans as a last kick of the game penalty for replacement Steve Shingler sailed wide of the posts resulting in the Ospreys clinging on to their point lead to win by 26 points to 27.

Next Friday the Scarlets travel to the Capital City to face the Blues , kick off is at 5pm.