Leinster keep pressure on URC leaders with late flurry against Lions

OSPREYS BEAT SCARLETS FOR WELSH SHIELD

Ospreys left it late to come from behind and win the Welsh Shield with a 27-20 victory over Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship.

Ospreys hit the front in the eighth minute through Dan Edwards who accepted a pass and stepped past Blair Murray before dotting down, but Scarlets brought it back to 7-5 through Max Douglas.

The home side stretched their advantage to 12 points as firstly Edwards was able to knock over an easy three points from a penalty before he went over for a second try of the night after some quick play through the hands from Morgan Morris and Kieran Hardy.

Scarlets did not roll over and a penalty brought them back into the contest after the break and they managed to hit the front with two tries in the space of 10 minutes, Taine Plumtree reaching out to score before Murray raced over to give Scarlets a 20-17 lead.

Scarlets were leading with five minutes to go but gifted a penalty to Ospreys, who decided to run the play instead of going for goal – and it paid dividends when Jac Morgan crashed over the line to make it 24-20.

Ospreys suffered a narrow defeat to Cardiff last week and did not want to suffer the same result this time around. They worked down the clock before being given a last-minute penalty and Edwards was able to knock over another three points to take his personal haul to 22 and seal the win.

LEINSTER BURY LIONS WITH LATE FLURRY

Leinster climbed to third in the United Rugby Championship as they ran in five tries in a 31-7 victory over Lions.

It took less than two minutes for Leinster to hit the front as Jamie Osborne chased down his own kick and was able to cruise over the whitewash before Sam Prendergast converted.

Both sides had a try disallowed by the TMO, Prendergast’s score was cancelled out for the hosts for offside before the Lions saw one chalked off after Erich Cronje was caught offside when Sibabalwe Mahashe ran the length of the field.

Leinster did finally double their lead when Tom Clarkson went in from close range but the South African visitors pulled one back before the break when Francke Horne ran through a gap to make it 14-7 at the break.

The scoreline remained the same until 10 minutes from time when Leinster breathed a huge sigh of relief when Hugo Keenan finished off a nice move to double their lead once again.

Leinster ran in two more tries in the final 10 minutes to run away with the contest, Rieko Ioane grabbing the bonus-point try before Jimmy O’Brien went over in the corner to round off the scoring.