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Second-half display earns Ospreys comfortable win at Cardiff

By PA
Gareth Anscombe. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The Ospreys pulled clear in the second half to earn a 22-6 victory over Cardiff in their Welsh derby at the Arms Park.

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Cardiff had led 3-0 at the end of a low-scoring opening period in the capital, with Rhys Priestland’s 27th-minute penalty the only points either side managed to get on the board.

However, the Ospreys broke clear after the break, with Dewi Lake, Rhys Webb and Sam Parry all going over for a win that leaves them nine points behind Welsh Shield leaders the Scarlets ahead of next weekend’s west Wales derby in Swansea.

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Another Priestland penalty was all the hosts could muster in the second half as they slipped 11 points adrift of their visitors.

The Ospreys controlled the opening exchanges as their runners crashed into the home defenders but were unable to find a way through.

Lake had a try ruled out for obstruction in the build-up following a visit to the TMO, but things took a turn for the worse for Cardiff when they lost wing Owen Lane to a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.

It seemed inevitable the Ospreys would take full advantage of their extra man, yet by the time Lane returned 10 minutes later no damage had been done.

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The Ospreys created a chance for Keelan Giles by kicking into the space that should have been occupied by Lane, but he was unable to pick up cleanly and another opportunity went begging.

It took almost half an hour for the first score to arrive. The Ospreys came in at the side of a ruck 30 metres out from their posts and Priestland made no mistake from the kicking tee.

The visitors sprung back into offensive action with a clean break in the home 22 by Wales flanker Jac Morgan but failed to make it pay.

Michael Collins looked to have finally got the Ospreys on the board in the last play of the half, but the TMO once again ruled out any score, deciding he had been held up before being able to touch down.

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Priestland and opposite number Gareth Anscombe traded penalties at the start of the second half before latter – a former Cardiff man himself – kicked a penalty to the corner and Lake trundled over from the line-out for the game’s first try.

Webb extended the lead when he ran 60 metres to the posts five minutes later after intercepting a Priestland pass. He also added the conversion.

The scrum-half was denied another two minutes later, but the Ospreys still stretched their advantage in the 66th minute when replacement hooker Parry drove over.

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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