Ospreys claim bragging rights

The Ospreys ran-in seven tries with Dan Biggar scoring 26 points as they hammered regional rivals Scarlets 60-17 at the Liberty Stadium.

The match took some time to come alive, with the hosts only crossing for the first time in the 25th minute, but were in command at 20-3 by the interval.

Six tries followed in the second period as the visitors had both Martin Roberts and Sean Lamont sent to the sin-bin.

The Scarlets had been good value for an early lead via a Rhys Priestland sixth-minute penalty but Ospreys slowly turned the screw as they were gifted three soft penalties inside a 10-minute period, all kicked by Biggar.

And the Ospreys went a long way to winning the game with a try for James Hook on 25 minutes.

It started when a long throw from a Scarlets' line-out went astray, with Mike Phillips gathering before Richard Fussell and Tommy Bowe combined well to put Hook went over in the left corner.

Sin-binned

Problems at the scrum saw the Scarlets concede two more penalties on 34 and 39 minutes which the on-song Biggar made no mistake in converting for a handsome interval lead.

The Scarlets' problems increased at the start of the second half when scrum-half Roberts was sin-binned for dissent and they conceded two tries in the space of two minutes through Jonathan Thomas and Biggar, who ran back a loose kick from Priestland.

Against the run of play Gareth Maule grabbed a try back for the Scarlets but the Ospreys hit back with another three tries in the space of nine minutes as Fussell crossed to secure the bonus point with Bowe and Paul James following suit.

With Ospreys replacement lock Ian Evans in the bin for a stamp, Jonny Faamatuainu gave the Scarlets' score a bit of relative respectability with a try from a quick tap penalty.

But appropriately it was the home side who had the final say with a try for replacement scrum-half Jamie Nutbrown.