Biarritz 29 Ospreys 28:IT SUMMED up another Heineken Cup quarter-final failure for the Ospreys that a message from the referee, George Clancy, was lost in the enormity of the moment. The Welsh region interpreted a signal for advantage near the Biarritz 10-metre line 11 seconds from the end as an imminent penalty award. But Dimitri Yachvili's knock-on had not been deemed deliberate and when Dan Biggar's 40-metre drop-goal attempt drifted wide, there was no time for the scrum to be set.
The Ospreys’ captain, Ryan Jones, said Clancy told him there was no time for the penalty to be taken, but Yachvili said he heard the official use the word “scrum”. Clancy would not comment afterwards but the issue was not so much what he may have said as whether Yachvili’s action, when he palmed Mike Phillips’ pass with his left hand, merited a penalty.
“I was worried the referee would award a penalty,” Yachvili said. “There had been a similar incident in the first half when he gave a scrum so I hoped I would not be punished. I heard him say it was a knock-on and he told the Ospreys that if he awarded the scrum the game would be over.”
The Ospreys dominated for long periods and cut the Biarritz defence out wide at will. They scored three tries to two and blew four clear opportunities. Just as costly as their profligacy was a facility for making mistakes.
Biarritz’s two tries came directly from Ospreys errors, first when the visitors were shoved off their own attacking scrum. That set up the US wing Takudzwa Ngwenya to sprint 80 yards to score. Ten minutes into the second half, Biggar’s restart failed to go 10 metres and Ngwenya broke away from another scrum to chip ahead, for Iain Balshaw to beat Andrew Bishop to the bounce and score the French side’s second try.
Yachvili’s two penalties were soft. Ryan Jones had just scored his team’s first try when he was penalised for holding on in a ruck from the restart.
Biggar tackled Ngwenya without the ball after a pass intended for the wing had missed its target by five metres. Factor in two of Damien Traille’s three drop goals coming after the Ospreys had lost their own lineouts and the real reason the Welsh region lost had far more to do with themselves than Clancy.
BIARRITZ: Balshaw; Ngwenya, Hunt, Traille, Bolakoro; Peyrelongue, Yachvili; Coetzee, August, Johnstone, Thion, Carizza, Lauret, Harinordoquy, Faure. Replacements: Mignardi for Balshaw (53), Gobelet for Bolakoro (64), Barcella for Coetzee (50), Terrain for August (70), Hall for Carizza (41), Alexandre for Lauret (63). Not used: Hughes, Courrent.
OSPREYS: Byrne; Bowe, Bishop, Hook, Williams; Biggar, M Phillips; James, Bennett, A Jones, A Jones, J Thomas, Collins, Holah, R Jones. Replacements: Walker for Bishop (63), Shervington for Bennett (76), Gough for A Jones (63), Tiatia for Holah (69). Not used: Bevington, Mitchell, Nutbrown, Parker.
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU).
