Linley MacKenzie
Connacht's fine away form continued last night in Swansea, where they also earned a valuable bonus point, when they defeated Ospreys who had taken an early six-point lead through the boot of Shaun Connor.
Connacht responded with a sweeping move that was finished by left wing Wayne Munn with the Ospreys defence stretched. Eric Elwood added the conversion and then a penalty four minutes later to give Connacht a 10-6 lead.
Ospreys, despite missing four front-row players to World Cup duties, upped the tempo. Quicker to the ruck than their opponents, they managed to reduce the deficit to a point through a Connor penalty and then took the lead with a well-worked Chris Wells try which Connor converted.
Although Connacht's error count rose, they did well with their limited possession and Elwood tacked on a penalty on 33 minutes to keep his side well in contention.
Leading by three points at the break, Ospreys, who suffered a humiliating defeat to Cardiff last week that knocked them off the league's top spot, could not recover after Connacht took the lead eight minutes after the restart. Hooker Bernard Jackman got in for the try after Connacht had dispossessed Ospreys on halfway, and with Tim Allnutt and Paul Neville keeping the ball tight, Jackman cantered in and Elwood converted.
In the 58th minute Jackman's intercept from a midfield mix-up was finished by Mike McCarthy. Connor cut the deficit after Ted Robinson was sin-binned for a professional foul, but despite this Connacht kept pushing the Ospreys back.
A series of rolling mauls resulted in Conor McPhillips claiming the fourth try after 66 minutes. The Ospreys could only muster a penalty from Adrian Durston before Connacht's replacement full back Mark McHugh put the game out of reach with a long-range penalty eight minutes from the end.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 8 mins: Connor penalty 3-0; 11: Connor penalty 6-0; 13: Munn try, Elwood conversion 6-7; 17: Elwood penalty 6-10; 21: Connor penalty 9-10; 24: Wells try, Connor penalty 16-10; 33: Elwood penalty 16-13. Half-time: 16-13. 48: Jackman try, Elwood conversion 16-20; 58: McCarthy try 16-25; 62: Connor penalty 19-25; 66: McPhillips try 19-30; 70: Durston penalty 22-30; 74: McHugh penalty 22-33.
NEATH/SWANSEA OSPREYS: A Durston; D Tuieti, J Story, S Gibbs, G Morris; S Connor, A Williams; P Jones, C Wells, A Millward, A Newman, L Batemen, G Thomas, R Pugh, N Bonner-Evans. Replacements: A Wyn Davies for Wells (27 mins); G Henson for Connor (63 mins); C Griffiths for P Jones (68 mins); L Tait for Bateman (75 mins).
CONNACHT: D Hewitt; T Robinson, M Mostyn, T Allnutt, W Munn; E Elwood, M Walls; D McFarland, B Jackman, A Clarke, D Browne, M McCarthy, J Muldoon, P Neville, M Carroll. Replacements: A Farley for Browne (h-t), J O'Sullivan for Carroll, C McPhillips for Munn (59 mins), F Boiroux for Clarke (67 mins), M McHugh for Elwood (71 mins), H Bourke for McCarthy (82 mins).
Referee: D Changleng (Scotland).
