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Keiran Williams brace helps Ospreys claim derby spoils against struggling Scarlets
By PA
Ospreys centre Keiran Williams scored two tries to help earn his side a 31-9 victory and condemn Scarlets to another derby defeat in Swansea.
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Scarlets have not won at their Welsh rivals since October 2017 and they never looked likely to break that losing run as Ospreys’ pack was the dominant force in a static game.
The hosts scored four tries to nil with Morgan Morris and Dan Edwards also on the tryscoring sheet. Jack Walsh kicked three conversions and a penalty with Edwards adding a conversion.
Three penalties from Ioan Lloyd was Scarlets’ response, although it was the visitors who drew first blood at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Ospreys were penalised at the first scrum, which enabled Lloyd to give his side a fourth-minute lead.
However, Scarlets immediately bungled the restart and the hosts made them pay when Williams joined a line-out drive to force his way over.
Walsh converted before Lloyd kicked his second penalty to leave Scarlets trailing 7-6 at the end of an evenly-contested first quarter.
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Ospreys then turned down a couple of kickable penalties in favour of more attacking options and were rewarded when Williams crashed over for his second try.
A thumping tackle from Vaea Fifita on Max Nagy won Scarlets a penalty and once again Lloyd was on target but that score was quickly nullified with a first penalty success for Walsh.
Ospreys led 17-9 at the interval and, 10 minutes after the restart, they extended that advantage when Morris finished off a succession of forward drives for the home side’s third try.
Scarlets replaced internationals Gareth Davies and Wyn Jones in an attempt to reverse their fortunes but it proved fruitless in a disappointing afternoon that left them joint bottom of the United Rugby Championship table.
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Their replacement prop Steff Thomas was sin-binned in the 67th minute for repeated team offences and Ospreys took advantage to score their bonus-point try when creative play from Nagy gave debutant Edwards a run-in.
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The writer here ignores the fact that, following on from not taking the penalty kick, the All Blacks did manage to score a try a few minutes later. Not directly from the penalty awarded, but it is speculation to say that had they opted to take the koi they would have won. Even if they kicked it, which was no guarantee, they would still be trailing and would have had to start again at half-way.
Go to commentsI would be surprised if Sales Opoku Fordjour and Northampton’s Tommy Freeman are not in the team, Anthony Watson is also one that could go on the wing. One thing I must say is that the front 3 will get destroyed against a team like South Africa.
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