Ospreys leave it late

Tipuric: late try for Ospreys

Justin Tipuric scored an injury time try as Ospreys beat Edinburgh 26-19 on Saturday to maintain their unbeaten record in the RaboDirect Pro 12 Championship.

It looked as if the match was heading for a 19-19 draw until the home side counter-attacked in injury time at the Liberty Stadium.

Both sides went into the match fairly evenly matched in terms of big-name absentees, with the Ospreys missing eight World Cup stars to Edinburgh's seven.

Against the run of early play, Edinburgh scored a try on six minutes through wing Tim Visser after Richard Fussell over-ran Greig Laidlaw's chip ahead.

The Ospreys hit back with a stunning try from in-form scrum-half Rhys Webb, who weaved his way over from a line-out on the 22.

Edinburgh regained the lead from the re-start thanks to a Laidlaw kick but Dan Biggar levelled the scores at 10-10 after 21 minutes with a penalty from in front of the posts.

However, the Ospreys then saw points go begging in the space of two minutes.

First Biggar thought he had put over a drop goal but referee David Wilkinson ruled it out and then captain Tipuric spilled the ball in the act of scoring.

But the Ospreys went into the lead after 31 minutes when Biggar slotted a penalty from a maul infringement by flanker Sean Cox.

Frustrating

There was a frustrating end to the first half for the Ospreys. First the referee got in the way of an encouraging attack, then Kristian Phillips attempted a rather over-ambitious drop-kick before Laidlaw levelled things with a penalty on the final whistle.

Edinburgh conceded a penalty just 51 seconds into the second half, but Biggar's shot at goal rebounded off the left upright.

By contrast Laidlaw kicked his effort after 45 minutes to give Edinburgh a 16-13 lead.

A minute later Biggar had found the target to tie up the scores at 16-16 with his third penalty.

The home crowd got very frustrated with the referee and what they saw as his determination to give everything the Scottish region's way, twice blowing up for crossing offences when the Ospreys were building encouraging attacks.

The Ospreys were well down on the penalty count but they got one back in their favour when Edinburgh failed to roll away. Biggar kicked it to give his side a 19-16 lead after 65 minutes.

But Laidlaw levelled the scores after Ian Evans was sin-binned from a line-out offence.

The match seemed destined for a draw until Tipuric squeezed over in the second minute of injury time.