Ospreys produce brilliant comeback to defeat Lions

Ospreys wing Keelan Giles was one of five try scorers against Lions

Ospreys produced a wonderful comeback to clinch victory against Lions to confirm their Challenge Cup knockouts spot.

Earlier tries came from Owen Watkin and George North who gave Warren Gatland a Six Nations injury scare after being forced off with a shoulder injury.

Ospreys earned a home last-16 tie as they await their opponents.

Lions captain Marius Louw scored two tries, while JC Pretorius and Morne van den Berg crossed, while the ill-disciplined hosts had three players sin-binned.

Ospreys and Lions had already qualified for the knockout stages. Toby Booth's side spent less than a week in Johannesburg and endured a more than 10,000-mile round trip to play a European game in South Africa in a sparsely-populated stadium.

Wales prop Gareth Thomas missed the game with a minor leg injury and was replaced by Rhys Henry as one of four personnel changes from the win against Perpignan while scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams returned and flankers Will Hickey and Harri Deaves started.

Home hooker PJ Botha was given an early yellow card after leading with the forearm while in possession after making contact with Deaves' neck.

Dan Edwards missed a penalty before Lions scrum-half Sanele Nohamba opened the scoring as Lions enjoyed early success at the breakdown, while also disrupting the Ospreys' line-out.

The hosts conceded a sloppy try when Gianni Lombardi's kick was charged down by recalled Wales squad centre Watkin, who pounced to score.

Lions responded when centre Louw latched onto Nohamba's chip kick to stroll over but the scrum-half inexplicably missed the easy conversion.

A Sam Parry turnover and Iestyn Hopkins 50-22 kick provided the platform for North to demonstrate his class as he powered through Lombardi's attempted tackle to canter over for Ospreys' second try.

A potential Lions try for wing Richard Kriel was ruled as being held up after desperate defensive work from Deaves and Keelan Giles.

North was forced off the field after picking couple of early knocks and replaced by Keiran Williams.

Lions lock Ruben Schoeman had a try disallowed for a double movement, but the hosts did not have to wait too long as flanker Pretorius powered over.

A well-worked Lions line-out move saw captain Louw score his second try on the stroke of half-time to give the hosts a four-point advantage.

Louw was shown a yellow card for late shoulder charge on opposite number Watkin before Nohamba and Edwards exchanged penalties.

The sleepy Ospreys defence was caught napping when replacement Van den Berg took a quick tap penalty and scored under the posts.

Ospreys attempted to gain a foothold back in the match with some adventurous attacking play, but were continually repelled by the superior Lions scrum.

Lions had a third player shown a yellow card when replacement Hanru Sirgel was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul.

Home replacement hooker Jaco Visagie was denied the Lions' fifth try when he lost control of possession over the line.

Ospreys were more clinical after Giles crossed following a break from Keiran Williams with a Jack Walsh conversion bringing the visitors within four points.

The confidence in the young Ospreys side was in full flow now and prop Cam Jones came onto the pitch and combined with Watkin before replacement scrum-half Cameron Jones scored.

This gave Ospreys the lead and number eight Morse provided the finale with an interception score.

Lions: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (capt) Edwill van der Merwe; Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba; JP Smith, PJ Botha, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ruben Schoeman, Reinhard Nothnagel, JC Pretorius, Emmanuel Tshituka, Francke Horn.

Replacements: Jaco Visagie, Morgan Naude, Ruan Dreyer, Darrien Landsberg, Hanru Sirgel, Morne van den Berg, Kade Wolhuter, Erich Cronje.

Sin-bin: PJ Botha 4, M Louw 41, Sirgel 67.

Ospreys: Iestyn Hopkins; Mat Protheroe, George North, Owen Watkin, Keelan Giles; Dan Edwards, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Rhys Henry, Sam Parry, Tom Botha, James Ratti, Adam Beard (capt), Will Hickey, Harri Deaves, Morgan Morse.

Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Cam Jones, Ben Warren, Lewis Jones, Tristan Davies, Cameron Jones, Jack Walsh, Keiran Williams.

Referee: Jeremy Rozier (France)

Assistant referees: Luc Ramos & Evan Uruzmendi (France)

TMO: Patrick Dellac (France)

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