Ospreys downed in Biarritz
Biarritz beat Ospreys 36-5 on Sunday but susbsequent results meant they fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
Last Updated: 22/01/12 5:21pm
Biarritz bagged maximum points in their 36-5 win over Ospreys at the Parc des Sports Aguilera on Sunday, but susbsequent results meant they fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
Taku Ngwenya scored a hat-trick of tries to temporarily lift the French club's hopes of sneaking into the quarter-finals as a group runner-up ahead of the final results from Pool 2.
However, the former finalists have to be content with the consolation of a place in the last eight of the Amlin Cup.
A brace of tries from the flying winger in the opening ten minutes set them on their way. The first came from just a metre out as he was the beneficiary of a huge overlap on the right hand side and the second was the result of an excellent long-range counter-attack from former England full-back Iain Balshaw.
Both tries were converted by Dimitri Yachvili and the diminutive French scrum-half then added a penalty to stretch the Basque outfit's lead to seventeen points at the halfway point.
The Ospreys' cause was not helped at all when replacement scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'I received a yellow card just five minutes after the restart. And the hosts finally managed to capitalise on their one-man advantage when left winger Benoit Baby crashed over from short range near the left touchline.
Biarritz did not have to wait long to confirm a bonus point either as Balshaw touched down in the corner for the Frenchmen's fourth try of the match.
The visitors did finally record a try of their own just after the hour mark through replacement hooker Richard Hibbard but it was only ever going to be a consolation and Ngwenya completed his hat-trick with another typically powerful finish shortly afterwards.
