Tries by Stefan Terblanche, Tal Selley and Alan Wyn Jones made the difference as the Ospreys took the game by the scruff of the neck after trailing 13-3 at half-time. The Welsh region had replaced 14 players from Wednesday night’s 18-16 bruising win over Cardiff Blues, only forward Andy Lloyd survived, their stars were on the bench and the standard suffered accordingly.
The visitors capitalised on the hosts’ weakened state to race into a 10-0 lead in as many minutes, centre Nick De Luca presented flanker Kelly Brown with a simple run in for the opening try. Fullback Steve Jones added the conversion and an early penalty.
Ospreys centre James Hook and Garry Law swapped penalties making it 13-3 at half-time, when the home side were booed from the pitch by their own supporters. The Welsh response was swift, fly-half Shaun Connor and Hook found holes in the Borders’ defence before fullback Stefan Terblanche crossed for a try straight after the break.
Hook’s conversion took the Ospreys up to 13-10 as ex-All Black Justin Marshall and Wales star Gavin Henson entered the fray and lifted the tempo.
A Hook penalty levelled the scores at 13-all with an hour gone before Tal Selley powered through several despairing tackles to grab a deserved try and Connor dropped a goal.
Borders lost No.8 Ross Beattie to the sin bin late in the game and Ospreys replacement lock Mike Powell followed him soon after for a mild indiscretion. Wales lock Alan Wyn Jones’s converted try only served to add insult in injury time.
