Connacht v Ospreys: Five takeaways as ‘constant thorn’ undone by yellow card and hosts get ‘timely prompt’ from two-try hero
Two tries from Shamus Hurley-Langton proved crucial in Connacht's win over an Ospreys team inspired by the fit-again Jac Morgan, inset
Following Connacht’s hard-fought 21-14 victory over the Ospreys in Galway, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship encounter.
The top line
A massive day for both teams in the race for eight URC play-offs eventually ended with Connacht striking late to register their fifth win in a row.
It wasn’t a win that ignited all-out jubilation for the Irish hosts; the absence of a four-try bonus point highlighted how much of a struggle the match was with the wind and the influence of the visiting Jac Morgan on his first start since his November injury with Wales.
The missing point ultimately left them in ninth place on the table behind Munster despite pulling level on points with their Irish rivals. To be honest, though, Connacht will be relieved just to have won as the Ospreys were good value for the losing bonus point.
It took the hosts 11 minutes to take the lead, a lengthy spell of pressure pinning back the Ospreys, and it all culminated in player of the match Shamus Hurley-Langton worming over from pick and drive for the try converted by Sean Naughton.
The visitors hit back in a similar vein, building a period of pressure instigated by Dan Kasende tiding up a kick ahead from sub Jack Carty.
The impetus was then added to by Rhys Davies deflecting a clearance kick from Ben Murphy. Then, with Jac Morgan winning a penalty near the posts, the ball went back wide to allow Kasende burrow over for the converted 23rd-minute try.
Ospreys were now on top, but the attack built after they scrummaged down several penalties by the posts was alleviated by Shane Jennings’ penalty win at a ruck. That, though, needed a TMO intervention to get his team to the interval on level terms.
With Luke Morgan fetching on halfway a Ben Murphy clearance kick, a 39th-minute Ospreys sweep featuring a devastating run from Dan Edwards was finished off by the supporting Jac Morgan in his first match start since his serious injury.
However, after Edwards’ conversion made it 14-7, referee Federico Vedovelli was called to the big screen at the opposite end of the ground and he ruled that Edwards’ pass to Jac Morgan was forward, cancelling out the score.
It was a huge reprieve and Connacht made great use of it, going in front with a 45th-minute converted try from Hurley-Langton on penalty advantage. This cushion was short-lived, though, as Darragh Murray was sin-binned for coming in at the side.
There was some initial stout defence from the hosts, but a Carty clearance from his own 22 went over the dead-ball line down the field and this handed Ospreys another attacking chance that was finished on 56 minutes by Luke Morgan. Edwards’ conversion levelled things up.
A gripping nip-and-tuck finale now unfolded, with Matthew Devine’s 72nd-minute decision to go quick with a penalty decisive. He was tackled without getting 10 metres by Jac Morgan, who was carded.
Naughton missed the resulting penalty kick with the posts wobbling in the wind, but he then gave Devine the assist pass a minute later to race under the posts and added the conversion to seal the seven-point win.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Jac’s back
A 34-minute run off the bench at Benetton last weekend marked the return to action of Jac Morgan following the shoulder injury sustained in Wales’ Autumn Nations Series loss to Argentina.
There was little he could do to prevent his team’s disappointing 31-19 loss in Treviso, but he was inspired in Galway where he was constantly a thorn in the Irish club’s side.
He would likely have taken the player of the match award, but the yellow card he copped when tackling the quick-tapping Devine with eight minutes remaining and the scores level.
Just a minute was needed in Saturday’s match for the Welsh back-rower to demonstrate he was going to be a nuisance, as it was his carry that tempted a penalty from Denis Buckley.
Another carry 20 minutes later produced another penalty, this infringement paving the way for his team’s opening try, and he would have been on the score sheet himself but for the TMO insisting that the referee should review the Edwards assist pass.
Aside from his effectiveness in the carry, Morgan went on to top the game’s tackle chart. That defensive effort will be of little solace to him, given it was his illegal contact that left his team a player down and conceding the decisive score.
However, his overall performance was a sharp reminder for Ospreys fans to catch the forward while they still can.
Morgan doesn’t have long left with the region, as he will be moving on to Gloucester in the PREM next season, so Ospreys supporters should savour every minute they have left with their talisman. He was back to great form in Ireland.
Hurley-Langton’s timely prompt
With the wind coming in from the Atlantic an annoyance, this URC fixture was very much about hard yards and as good as Morgan was for the Ospreys, Connacht has their own back row star in the two-try Hurley-Langton.
There would have been local fears pre-game that the hosts might be caught short in this area of the forwards, with the hugely productive duo of Cian Prendergast and Sean Jansen missing. Prendergast was rested while Jansen has a calf injury.
Connacht fans need not have worried, though, as Hurley-Langton, appearing for the first time in quite a while following shoulder issues, was excellent.
There was nothing spectacular about his close-in pick-and-drive opener, but the break he fashioned on 16 minutes from halfway to the 22 illustrated this was a player really up for making a massive impact… and he did on both sides of the ball.
Having gone to score a second try early in the second half, he kept his team motoring and did enough in his 68 minutes to merit the player of the match award.
There has been speculation that the New Zealand-born flanker, who joined from Taranaki in 2022, might not get a contract renewal in the summer, but what he produced in this win was a timely prompt that he still has what it takes.
Galway’s relentless spoilsport
Galway is such a beautiful place to visit, but the impact its inclement weather has on the rugby continues to be a relentless spoilsport. Even on a sunny late March day, as was the case for this match, it still impacted the action.
We’ll start with Ospreys hooker Sam Parry, who was a late call-up from the bench to start.
Throwing into the set-piece in the blustery conditions was no easy task and while tossing it to the front was his regular tactic, that still didn’t guarantee his team the ball. There were a couple of first-half mishaps, but the upside was that it left them trusting going to their scrum more rather than into the corner.
The thing was, you’d imagine that Connacht, seeing as it is the home ground, would know every which way the wind gusts.
Yes, their lineout was strong, but their kicking was a frustration. So strong did the wind blow in the second half that one clearance from Carty on his 22, a kick that he didn’t put full power into, carried all the way over the dead-ball line.
That was costly as the Ospreys scored from the resulting scrum, and they could have been left fuming if the penalty missed later by Naughton was their only chance to get a winning score with Morgan in the bin.
Matt Williams’ dig at Jacques Nienaber predicting that Leinster will be ‘exploited’ again
Lancaster’s intriguing dilemma
There were winter worries that Stuart Lancaster’s first season in charge of Connacht would fritter away into nothing, but they have discovered a rich vein of form across the spring and five successive wins have them knocking on the door of the URC play-offs.
The trouble is, does the coach go for broke and try to double up with the upcoming demands of the Challenge Cup? Connacht’s next URC fixtures are away to the Stormers and the Lions in South Africa on April 18 and 25, respectively.
In the meantime, they host the Sharks next Friday in the Challenge Cup round of 16 with a trip to the top-seeded Montpellier most likely awaiting the winners.
Do Connacht, who enjoyed fine contributions in their latest league win from Test-level pair Bundee Aki and Darragh Murray, have the squad depth to go all out next Friday and follow it with a trip to France before embarking on their two-match league trip to the southern hemisphere?
It’s an intriguing dilemma for Lancaster to figure out what the best course of action is.
In contrast, Ospreys boss Mark Jones will be inclined to go all out for his team’s round of 16 Challenge Cup trip to Ulster.
Defeats on the road in Treviso and Galway have scuppered their chances of making the URC play-offs after optimism had grown on the back of a five-match unbeaten run in the competition (four wins and a draw).
Jones has been a brilliant coach for them in a time of WRU crisis, where their future is under threat. Young players such as Morgan Morse continue to develop on his watch, with Saturday’s effort at Connacht another step forward for the back-rower.