Ospreys rule at Ravenhill

The Ospreys bounced back from last weekend's Heineken Cup defeat to Biarritz with a valuable bonus-point win over Ulster at Ravenhill.

The entertaining 38-27 triumph takes the Welsh region up to second place in the Magners League table with a mouth-watering fixture against Leinster to come.

Wales centre James Hook grabbed a brace for the visitors and further scores from Shane Williams and Tommy Bowe condemned Ulster to a fourth consecutive league defeat.

The Irish outfit are now in danger of missing out on next season's Heineken Cup with Connacht sitting just four points adrift with a game in hand.

Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar was also accurate with the boot and scored 18 points to keep Ulster at bay.

Deft

Ulster's scores came in the first half from Simon Danielli and Andrew Trimble but they were unable to punish Ospreys when Ian Gough was binned late in the second half.

Niall O'Connor made up for an opening penalty miss by nailing his first after 10 minutes, but three minutes later Ospreys scored their first try through Wales wing Williams after a deft Lee Byrne flick pass.

Referee Neil Patterson consulted the TMO and the score was given though Dan Biggar's conversion bounced out off the upright.

Ulster immediately hit back with another O'Connor penalty and then burst through to score, four minutes before the half-hour, as Isaac Boss, Ed O'Donoghue and Rory Best combined to see Danielli charge over the line.

An Ospreys response came just six minutes later when a Biggar chip over the top was collected by Hook, who handed off Paddy Wallace to score. Biggar made no mistake with the extras and now the Ospreys led 12-11.

However, the stubborn hosts refused to lie down and, in first-half injury time, Trimble raced clear down the left wing with O'Connor this time adding the conversion to give Ulster the an 18-12 half-time lead.

Gifted

Biggar then narrowed Ulster's lead with an early second-half penalty and levelled the scores with another successful kick after Ulster strayed offside.

O'Connor was wide with a fairly straightforward effort and then gifted Hook his second try after his chip was easily charged down in Ulster's 22, allowing Biggar to add the conversion to put the Ospreys 25-18 ahead.

Again, though, Ulster came back with two penalties from O'Connor, the second coming in the 66th minute after Gough was binned for dragging down a driving maul, and Ulster then snatched the lead back 27-25.

But even with 14 men, the Ospreys managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over in their favour and Biggar kicked two more penalties to give his side a 31-27 lead.

And, with time running out, Ulster were denied the losing bonus-point they perhaps deserved when Bowe latched onto an Adam Jones boot upfield to touch the ball down as it rolled over the line.