Ospreys saved by Morgan

Matthew Morgan: Held his nerve at the death

Ospreys needed a last-minute penalty from Matthew Morgan to salvage a 26-26 draw against Treviso at the Stadio di Monigo.

A Heineken Cup upset looked on the cards when the hosts, who scored three tries to their opponents' two, led 26-26 in the dying stages.

However, with just seconds remaining, 19-year-old Morgan - making his debut in the competition - knocked over a penalty from 40 metres out to break Italian hearts and earn Sean Holley's men a draw which they scarcely deserved.

Kris Burton opened the scoring for Treviso with a penalty before New Zealand-born winger Brendan Williams had a try chalked off for a knock-on.

Squandered chances

The Ospreys had their opportunities too, but looked slightly off the pace as they squandered the chances that came their way.

Justin Tipuric carelessly knocked on with the line at his mercy, while Dan Biggar missed two kickable penalties either side of a failed drop-goal attempt from former Wales captain Ryan Jones.

The visitors eventually found their cutting edge midway through the half, Tommy Bowe bursting through a number of tackles to cross for the game's opening try, which Biggar converted.

Burton twice converted penalties either side of an effort from Biggar to make the score 10-9 to the Ospreys at the end of a tepid first half.

The game livened up considerably when Treviso grabbed two tries in the space of seven minutes after the break, the first coming when loosehead prop Michele Rizzo stormed his way over the line.

Biggar hit back with a penalty but a superb 47th-minute score by Benjamin de Jager, who weaved through and outfoxed Shane Williams close to the line, put Treviso 21-13 ahead.

Gift

An overthrown lineout gifted Ryan Jones the chance to get a try that Biggar converted, cutting the gap between the teams down to a single point.

But the home side were still looking the more focused, and when Tommaso Benvenuti got outside the Ospreys covering defence, scrum-half Tobias Botes was on hand to score try number three for the hosts.

Benvenuti was then lucky to stay on the pitch after dumping Williams in the tackle. He received a yellow for the incident, with Biggar reducing the deficit to three points with the resulting penalty.

Still, it seemed Ospreys would have to settle for a losing bonus point until they managed to force one last penalty, allowing Morgan to step up and rescue two hard-fought points for his side in the battle to qualify from Pool 5.