United Rugby Championship: Ospreys 19-22 Connacht - Irish province claim away win

Connacht celebrated an away United Rugby Championship win against an inexperienced Ospreys side to complete the opening block of league games.

Ospreys established an early 12-point lead through tries from Huw Sutton and Reuben Morgan-Williams.

Connacht responded with scores from Adam Wootton, Caolin Blade and John Porch.

Ospreys replacement hooker Sam Parry reduced the deficit late on but Connacht held on for victory.

Captain Jack Carty pulled the strings for the visitors, adding seven points, including a drop-goal as Connacht's third victory allowed them to rise to 12th in the URC table.

Ospreys have now only managed one victory in the opening block of seven games with four defeats and two draws as Toby Booth's side lie 13th with only Munster, Scarlets and Zebre below them.

Both sides will now have a four-week break before the league resumes at the end of November.

Second-string side

Hooker Scott Baldwin captained an Ospreys side that saw 11 changes from the defeat to Dragons with full-back Max Nagy, fly-half Jack Walsh and back row pair Ethan Roots and Morgan Morris retaining their places.

Ospreys were forced to field a second-string side with Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric, Gareth Anscombe, Joe Hawkins, George North, Owen Watkin and Alex Cuthbert involved in Wales' autumn squad.

Hooker Dewi Lake was also initially called up by Wales head coach Wayne Pivac but is now sidelined after injuring his shoulder at Rodney Parade last weekend.

Rhys Webb, Dan Evans, Will Griffiths, Sam Cross, Bradley Davies, Will Hickey, Harri Morgan, Sam Moore, Mat Protheroe and Stephen Myler were also unavailable through injury.

Connacht showed 10 changes from the team that beat Scarlets 36-14 with Jarrad Butler making his 100th appearance, with Mack Hansen, Finlay Bealham, Dave Heffernan and Cian Prendergast away on Ireland duty.

Ospreys made a storming start with a first try for lock Sutton after Walsh had collected a Reuben Morgan-Williams chip and fed Luke Morgan.

After replacing the injured Rhys Webb, scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams celebrates the second Ospreys try

The hosts added a second score following clever interplay between centre Keiran Williams and Morgan-Williams who dived over.

Ospreys were in the ascendency until a needless late tip tackle from Roots on Connacht lock Gavin Thornbury resulted in the home flanker being shown a yellow card.

The hosts managed to keep out Connacht when they were down to 14 men but the Irish province breached the Ospreys line through wing Wootton after a long pass from Carty who also converted from the touchline.

Flanker Tristan Davies made his Ospreys debut as a temporary blood replacement for Harri Deaves, while Connacht pair Darragh Murray and Adam Byrne also played first games for the Irish province.

Connacht took the lead through a flowing move down the left hand side with centre David Hawkshaw pulled down short but scrum-half Blade dived over.

Carty converted to give the visitors a 14-12 half-time lead.

An early second-half knock-on close to his own line from Ospreys number eight Morgan Morris gifted a third Connacht try for wing Porch.

It was unfortunate for Morris who once more proved the major ball-carrying option for his side.

Ospreys in-form wing Keelan Giles finally sprang into life after a quiet game with a searing break but his inside pass to Morgan-Williams went astray.

The home side changed their front-row which included a debut for prop Ben Warren and first appearance of the season for Wales hooker Parry.

Carty slotted over a drop-goal to take the Connacht advantage to two scores.

Parry made an immediate impression with a couple of turnovers and popped up to burrow over for the third try with Walsh converting to reduce the deficit to three points.

Ospreys battled as they searched for a match-winning score but were denied by Connacht as the Irish province sealed the win.

Ospreys: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Jack Walsh, Reuben Morgan Williams; Rhys Henry, Scott Baldwin (capt), Tom Botha, Rhys Davies, Huw Sutton, Ethan Roots, Harri Deaves, Morgan Morris.

Replacements: Sam Parry, Garyn Phillips, Ben Warren, Jack Regan, Tristan Davies, Matthew Aubrey, Luke Scully, Michael Collins.

Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Alex Wootton, Tom Farrell, David Hawkshaw, John Porch; Jack Carty (capt), Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Oisín Dowling, Gavin Thornbury, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler.

Replacements: Grant Stewart, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray, Paul Boyle, Kieran Marmion, Tom Daly, Adam Byrne.

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Assistant referees: Adam Jones & Mark Butcher (WRU)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)