Welsh scrum half Mike Phillips made his return to action in the second half as the Ospreys went to the top of the Magners League with a 19-17 home win over Connacht.
It was the first time Phillips had played since since mid-October when he suffered ankle ligament damage during the Ospreys’ Heineken Cup victory over ASM Clermont Auvergne.
He was forced to undergo surgery and not only missed the whole of the Invesco Perpetual Series in November, but wasn’t able to be included in Warren Gatland’s initial RBS 6 Nations squad.
But the Wales coach was closely monitoring the return of the British & Irish Lions scrum half and would have been pleased to see him get 40 minutes of rugby under his belt after such a long lay-off.
Phillips entered the fray at the start of the second half with the Ospreys leading 11-6. That was scant reward for a first-half that saw them dominate territory and possession, yet fail to press home their advantage on the scoreboard.
Dan Biggar hit the mark with two penalties, but was off target with another and hit the upright with his conversion attempt of Gareth Owen’s marvellous solo try.
The Ospreys full back joined the back line on the Connacht 10 mete line, ran through the centre and then outside the final defender to score half-way out on the left. That score, and a number of other breaks and touches earned him the man of the match award.
The second half started with a bang for t home side as Biggar landed another penalty and then notched his first try for the region after 47 minutes after receiving a great inside pass from Owen behind his back.
Biggar’s conversion attempt hit the upright again and he also missed another easy penalty later on in the half. Having established a 13 point lead the stage seemed set for the Ospreys to push on for a bonus point.
But when Wales lock Ian Evans was sent to the sin-bin for an off-the-ball tackle it gave Connacht the chance to fightback. While Evans was on the sidelines, hooker Sean Cronin powered over for a try and Ian Keatley landed his third penalty to cut the gap to five points.
Even though they lost full back Gavin Duffy for 10 minutes with 12 minutes left to play the only other points before the end came from Keatley’s boot to make the deficit a mere two points.
Even though the win took the Ospreys to the top of the table, and now lead by two points from Glasgow Warriors, the loss of the bonus point means that third placed Leinster need only to win their game in hand to overtake them.
Scorers: Ospreys: Tries: G Owen, D Biggar; Pens: D Biggar 3. Connacht: Try: S Cronin; Pens: I Keatley 4.
