Ospreys 37
Connacht 7

A bad weekend for Connacht was compounded at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea on Saturday night when they fell to a four tries to one defeat.

AWAY . . . Connacht's Andy Dunne gets his pass away during Saturday evening's Magners League clash at the Liberty Stadium. Photo: Steve Pope / SPORTSFILE

Connacht had hoped to end a three-year barren run in Wales with an overdue win but an Ospreys side without most of their internationals still proved too strong.

Former All-Black scrum-half Justin Marshall went to full-back for the first time in his career and was not exposed by Connacht.

With Ulster winning convincingly on Friday night, Conancht badly needed a win but they were on the back foot from the outset.

Two penalties inside six minutes gave the Ospreys a solid platform but Andy Dunne failed to cancel them as he saw two long range efforts narrowly miss the target.

But the complexion of the game changed completely when the Ospreys ran in two converted tries in stoppage time at the end of the opening half.

Scottish international Nikki Walker got the first when he sliced through the visitors defence for the opening try.

That lead was suddenly extended to 20 by the break when Marty Holah dived over after the superb Filo Tiatia had created the opportunity.

Connor added the points and extended their lead after the restart with his third penalty during a second-half where Connacht were twice reduced to fourteen men as Colm Rigney and Conor O'Loughlin were binned for killing the ball.

The Ospreys added a third try from Mike Phillips before they secured a bonus point when Gareth Owen raced through for a try which he also converted.

Connacht rallied late in the game and got a consolation try when Johnny O'Connor touched down in injury-time after tapping a short penalty.

Tim Donnelly added the points at the end of a disappointing night for Michael Bradley's men.

Ospreys:
Tries: Walker, Holah, Phillips, Owen.
Cons: Connor (2), Owen (2)
Pens: Connor (3)

Connacht:
Try: O'Connor
Con: Donnelly

OSPREYS: J Marshall; J Vaughton, M Taylor, J Spratt, N Walker; S Connor, M Phillips; P James, R Hibbard, C Griffiths; A Lloyd, L Bateman; B Lewis, M Holah, F Tiatia.
Replacements: M Powell for Lloyd, 65 mins; A Millward for Griffiths, 67 mins; T Smith for Lewis, 67 mins; G Owen for Connor, 70 mins; E Shervington for Hibbard, 70 mins.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; D Riordan, M Mostyn, M Deane, A Wynne; A Dunne, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; M McCarthy, J O'Connor, J Muldoon.
Replacements: C Rigney for McCarthy, 39 mins; C O'Loughlin for McPhillips, 56 mins; R Ofisa for Muldoon, 56 mins; R Loughney for Morris, 56 mins; D Gannon for Farley, 60 mins; J Fogarty for Flavin, 65 mins; T Donnelly for Mostyn, 65 mins.

Referee: A MacPherson (Scotland).

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