Double delight for Ospreys

The Ospreys enjoyed a double boost on Saturday night as Gavin Henson returned from injury in their 43-0 victory over Ulster.

The six-try success at the Liberty Stadium means the Welsh side return straight back to the top of the Magners League table.

However, it will be the sight of Henson back on a rugby field that will grab most of the attention after he made his comeback after five months out.

He came on in the 63rd minute to make his first appearance since injuring an ankle against Saracens in the EDF Cup semi-final in April.

Dominated

The Ospreys had dominated a one-sided opening half, going in at the interval with a 19-0 lead when they could have had even more of an advantage.

Despite being continuously penalised at the ruck area, the home side enjoyed a wealth of possession and should have grabbed a bonus-point try in the first 40 minutes.

They did manage to cross through scrum-half Rhodri Wells, James Hook and Shane Williams, who was celebrating his nomination for the IRB's world player of the year award.

Wells broke the deadlock after nine minutes after Lee Byrne collected an up-and-under and the full-back was once again the provider for the second, scored by Hook.

Williams' effort owed much to an untimely slip from Bryn Cunningham and with Hook adding two conversions, Ulster were fearing the worst when they went in at the break.

Their situation got even worse when they saw flanker Matt McCullough yellow carded for a professional foul that saw them concede three more points.

Bonus-point try

The bonus-point score eventually came courtesy of Tommy Bowe, who crossed against his former club to equal the Magners League individual try-scoring record held by Matthew Watkins.

Henson was one of four internationals thrown on from the Osprey bench - Ryan Jones, Huw Bennett and Duncan Jones the others.

An ugly night for Ulster got worse when Brendon Botha lost his temper and was sin-binned for throwing a punch. He would be joined by Stephen Ferris, who became the third visiting player to be sin-binned before full time.

Byrne scored a fifth home try, going over from a scrum, before Ryan Jones touched down in injury time, Hook converting to finish with a personal haul of 18 points.