Dan Baker and Justin Tipuric crossed in either half, but that wasn’t enough to save the Ospreys from crashing to a fourth defeat in five games in this season’s Guinness PRO12 campaign.
The erratic form of Sam Davies with the boot did not help. He missed five kicks – a potential 13 points – that could have made the difference.
It means the four-time champions are already playing catch-up if they are to challenge for the title this season. The Ospreys started brightly enough and had three of their internationals to thank.
Baker made a barnstorming start, bursting through to win an early penalty that Davies converted before making sure he was in the right place to score the game’s first try. It was two players who were left frustrated from their World Cup experience that combined for the score.
Josh Matavesi was a livewire in midfield after he played less than 40 minutes for Fiji during the tournament. Eli Walker, who hokey-kokeyed his way through the World Cup dipping in and out of the Welsh squad, looked sharp, beating his marker with ease before Richard Fussell got the scoring pass away to Baker on 15 minutes.
Davies missed the conversion but was not alone as opposite number Jack Carty was also off-target twice, pushing efforts past the posts, either side of a straight-forward penalty. The Irish should have taken more than three points after man of the match Bundee Aki again caught Ospreys leaving the door open around the fringes of a ruck.
Tom Grabham rushed off his wing to stop Kieron Marmion, but Matavesi was caught illegally slowing the play and binned. The Ospreys almost survived the 10 minute spell unscathed, and even saw Davies miss from long-range, until a defensive lapse at a scrum five metres from their line gifted Matt Healy an easy finish.
Connacht worked the blindside, wheeling the scrum and Marmion spotted an overlap and Grabham was left marking two men. The home side looked far more dangerous when Matavesi returned, his footwork and pass leading to a penalty but Davies did not have the range to level the scores on the stroke of half-time.
Ospreys then trailed 18-8 just four minutes into the second half when New Zealand centre Aki showed his strength when he dragged three defenders over the line to score. That prompted an SOS from Tandy to the bench and he sent on three Wold Cup players – Justin Tipuric, Paul James and Aaron Jarvis.
James helped stiffen up the scrum, Tipuric won a clutch of turnovers and surged over 11 minutes from time to bring Ospreys back to within a score. Davies slipped through and quick-hands by Dan Evans released the flanker from 20 metres out.
But Davies was again wide with the conversion and Jarvis twice spilled possession, summing up the Ospreys performance. Baker, Walker and Matavesi continued to show glimpses as Ospreys desperately sought a way back.
Connacht offered little in the second half but eked out a penalty thee minutes from time to seal the win.
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