The Ospreys, with six British Lions in their line-up, had to win and score four tries in the Welsh derby to keep their title dreams alive but a frustrating evening saw them come up short. The Dragons proved stubborn opposition and surprisingly led 11-12 at the break.
But the Dragons had no answer to a moment of magic by Shane Williams who was back to his best. He put on the after-burners in the 55th minute and sped past Rhodri Gomer Davies with ease to light up a dull evening’s rugby which failed to reach the heights.
Ospreys coach Sean Holley put on a brave face after seeing his side’s title challenge wilt. “It’s very disappointing but it was a very tall oder to get three bonus point wins. We’re just happy to get a win in the end,” he said.
“We are trying to build some confidence, some momentum towards the end of the season. It clearly wasn’t a night for tries and the Dragons made it really, really difficult for us as did the referee.”
The title chasers held the upper hand in the scrums throughout but were unable to make their superiority in that department count. The Dragons fed on scraps and relied on fly-half Shaun O’Connor to keep them in the game with his trust right boot. The former Osprey knocked over four penalties in the first half and kept his side in the game in the second spell with two more, the first of which took him past 500 league points.
The Ospreys attempted to up the tempo but dogged Dragons defence frustrated Holley’s side. James Hook and Williams produced sporadic moments of magic but the last pass was either dropped, knocked-on or hacked away from trouble by the visitors.
The match wasn’t helped with the fact three players – Jamie Ringer, Rory Sidey and Andrew Bishop – were sent to the sin bin in a stop-start affair.
The Dragons, who deserved something from the match, could rue the fact they ended up empty handed. A losing bonus point would have hauled them up to 30 points alongside the Scarlets and the Blues as the race for automatic qualification for next year’s Heineken Cup hots up.
