Ospreys 22 - Saints 32

This always had the potential to be an interesting match.  Ospreys put out a fairly junior team (with a lot of players still in New Zealand or making their way back after a fairly successful World Cup for Wales - as an aside, how do Wales get to the 3rd/4th play-off and still go down in the world rankings, something wrong there) while the Saints had their World Cup players integrating back into the team.  One of those matches that is always threatening an upset. 

Looking at the result you could think that it was closer than, in many ways, it was.  Saints got the bonus point for 4 tries.  Ospreys only got one try, the rest of the points came from the boot of Matthew Morgan (rightfully MOM), and that was despite playing for 20 minutes with only 14 men after the ref gave two yellow cards.  But while the Saints showed their experience in holding the game and correcting early errors, the Ospreys youngsters should be proud of a fantastic effort

The first half was an untidy affair from the Saints.  A lot of errors, handling was rusty and penalties given.  Typical integration team, the world cup players not really sre of the new members of the team and calls not fully understood.  The first try came from Vasily, making 4 tries in two matches, after a nice pass from Lamby found Fodes who then put Vasily over unopposed.  For a while everything bogged down into a rough and slightly bad tempered game and the half time score was 19-10 to the Ospreys.  Saints fans where left wondering what was going to happen, the Saints looked dominant but weren't getting the points on the board whereas the Ospreys were keeping it all ticking over, helped by their one try just before half time coming from an intercept by Sonny Parker of a Vasily pass.

Jim Mallinder clearly gave the guys a bit of a talking to.  They came out looking determined, if not happy.  But they put the ill-discipline to the side and tightened up on all aspects.  Starved of penalty opportunities then the Ospreys were always going to struggle.  But even after Dylan collected the next two tries during the first fifteen minutes of the second half, he still didn't break a smile, clearly this wasn't enough in his mind and more was needed.  And sure enough, a few minutes after that Callum Clark collected a wonderfully weighted cross kick from Lamby to go over, with other men spare.  19 unanswered points and the Saints looked done and dusted.  A penalty each for the teams didn't affect the final score greatly and the Ospreys were unlucky to leave without a bonus point after a good display.

Match Details

• Half Time 19-10
• Attendance 4,463
• Referee Neil Hennessy 

Ospreys

No.	Name	T	C	D	P
15	Ross Jones
14	Tom Prydie
13	Ben John
12	Sonny Parker	1T
11	Eli Walker
10	Matthew Morgan		1C		5P
9	Tom Habberfield
1	Cai Griffiths
2	Scott Baldwin
3	Aaron Jarvis
4	Tom Smith
5	Ian Evans
6	James King
7	Sam Lewis
8	Morgan Allen
16	Mefin Davies
17	Joe Rees
18	Duncan Jones
19	Richard Kelly
20	Chauncey O'Toole
21	Tom Grabham
22	Will Price
23	Kristian Phillips

Northampton Saints

No.	Name	T	C	D	P
15	Ben Foden
14	Chris Ashton
13	Scott Armstrong
12	James Downey
11	Vasily Artemyev	1T
10	Ryan Lamb		3C		1P
9	Lee Dickson
1	Soane Tongauiha
2	Dylan Hartley	2T
3	Paul Doran-Jones
4	Courtney Lawes
5	Mark Sorenson
6	Calum Clark	1T
7	Tom Wood
8	Roger Wilson
16	Mike Haywood
17	Alex Waller
18	Tom Mercey
19	Samu Manoa
20	Phil Dowson
21	Martin Roberts
22	Stephen Myler				1P
23	Jon Clarke