Biggar is better for Ospreys

Dan Biggar kicked 23 points as the Ospreys moved into fourth place in the Magners League table with a 33-16 win over Edinburgh.

The home side scored a try in each half at the Liberty Stadium after Biggar's boot had given them a comfortable cushion in the first quarter.

Justin Tipuric and Richard Fussell both touched down for an Ospreys side that was boosted by the return of some of their international stars.

Edinburgh did manage a try themselves through Tim Visser, but it was no more than a late consolation as they were well beaten on their travels.

Stars return

The Ospreys were able to call upon skipper Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones, Andrew Bishop and Nikki Walker after the autumn internationals.

They also had a plethora of talent on the bench; Adam Jones, Mike Phillips, James Hook and Tommy Bowe all amongst their list of replacements.

The quartet watched on from the sidelines in the first 20 minutes as Biggar made Edinburgh pay for falling foul of referee James Jones; the fly-half kicking five penalties to open up a 15-3 lead.

Edinburgh did manage a penalty of their own from Chris Paterson, who had to go off before the end of the first half with a dead leg.

Blindside flanker Tipuric grabbed the opening try of the contest in the 24th minute when he was put away down the right flank by prop Duncan Jones.

He chipped ahead and then beat the cover defence to his own kick to touch down, Biggar converting to make it 22-3 in the home side's favour.

Jones punished

Edinburgh managed to reduce the deficit to 13 points by half-time thanks to two David Blair penalties and the Ospreys suffered a blow early in the second half when Ryan Jones was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Mike Blair.

However they did not miss their skipper too much; Biggar converted his sixth penalty before Phillips, Hook and Adam Jones entered proceedings.

Biggar continued to be a points machine with a drop goal on the hour mark and with Edinburgh themselves reduced to 14 players with Alex Grove's 68th minute sin-binning, a second try arrived with five minutes to go.

A quickly-taken penalty saw winger Fussell go over in the left corner not long after replacement number eight Jonathan Thomas had been held up.

The Ospreys had a second player shown a yellow card as Ian Gough was ordered off for 10 minutes, Edinburgh taking advantage with a try from Visser that the scorer converted himself.