Hook saves Ospreys
A late penalty from James Hook earned Ospreys a 12-10 victory at Aironi and a place in the Magners League semi-finals.
Last Updated: 06/05/11 10:29pm
A late penalty from James Hook earned Ospreys a 12-10 victory at Aironi and a place in the Magners League semi-finals.
Dan Biggar became only the second Ospreys player to reach 500 points in the Magners League as he kicked nine points, but four missed penalties by the fly-half almost cost his side dearly.
Aironi had come within minutes of only their second victory in the Magners League through Danwel Demas' first-half try.
The Ospreys headed into the game needing a bonus-point victory or a Scarlets win over Cardiff. Four tries never looked likely as the Aironi defence stayed strong throughout, but their ill-discipline gave Biggar plenty of opportunities.
After missing an effort in the opening exchanges, Biggar made no mistake with his second kick on 18 minutes and brought up his personal milestone.
However, Aironi battled back and wing Danwel Demas scored the contest's only try on the half-hour mark, with Tito Tebaldi's conversion giving the Italians a four-point advantage at the interval.
Balanced
A penalty from Tebaldi increased the lead eight-minutes into the second half but Biggar hit back with two kicks of his own to leave the tie finely balanced at 10-9.
With news that the Scarlets were beating Cardiff coming through, Ospreys knew they only needed another score to take them into the play-offs and Hook held his nerve to kick the decisive penalty and set up a semi-final at table-toppers Munster next week.
Leinster will host Ulster in the other semi-final.
