Gloucester denied the Ospreys a bonus point by winning 26-18 at a rain-soaked and packed Kingsholm on Friday night. Dean Ryan’s side now top the Pool with two wins from two matches, and now have back to back matches against Bourgoin.
It was the Ospreys who started brightly and their early endeavours were rewarded with a try for Sonny Parker in the eighth minute, converted by James Hook.
The Magners league champions were dominant and will rue not putting Gloucester away when they had the chance. Gloucester nibbled away at the lead when Ryan Lamb scored the first of his three penalties and then, in the space of six minutes, Hook missed a penalty and a drop goal and the TMO denied Vaughton a try in the corner.
However, the Ospreys got the score they deserved after 24 minutes when Parker scored his scored of the evening. Hook added a penalty in the second half, but that was it for the Ospreys.
The real story is the gritty and determined way that Gloucester fought their way back into the match.
They capitalised on Jonny Vaughton’s sin-binning in the dying seconds of the first period by scoring a converted try from Anthony Allen. The centre found a space in the 14 man defence, and darted 40 metres to score in the first minute of the second half.
James Simpson Daniel added another try on 56 minutes and Scotland fly half Chris Paterson rubbed salt into Osprey wounds to score a penalty kick that meant they left Kingsholm with nothing.
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