Biarritz overpower Ospreys
Biarritz Olympique kept their amazing home record in the Heineken Cup going with a comfortable 36-5 bonus point victory in Pool Five over the Ospreys at the Stade Aguilera.
The Basque outfit had lost only four of their previous 40 Heineken Cup home games and turned on the style against the Welsh side to remind everyone why they have reached two previous finals.
The Top 14 side made the perfect start and took advantage of a disorganised visitors defence when USA Eagles wing, Taku Ngwenya, crashed over for a try after only five minutes.
Fullback Iain Balshaw then split the Ospreys defence to create another opportunity finished off by Ngwenya who crossed over for his second try despite the attention of Tommy Bowe.
Scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili added his second conversion and a penalty to give the home side a well deserved 17-0 lead at half-time against a Welsh side which struggled to launch a meaningful attack.
The visitors lost replacement scrumhalf Kahn Fotuali to a yellow card and were down to 14-men for the first ten minutes of the second half and Biarritz took full advantage when wing Benoit Baby crossed for Biarritz’s third try.
Balshaw was the next to take advantage of their extra-man and crossed for Biarritz fourth try for the bonus point before replacement Richard Hibbard barged his way over for the Ospreys try.
Wing Ngwenya then rubbed salt into the Ospreys wounds with a third try to make it a hat-trick of tries for the American midway through the second half to seal a one-sided victory against the Welsh side.
The scorers:
For Biarritz:
Tries: Ngwenya 3, Baby, Balshaw
Cons: Yachvili 4
Pen: Yachvili
For Ospreys:
Try: Hibbard
Biarritz Olympique: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Charles Gimenez, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Benoît Baby, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Benoit Guyot, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Eusebio Guinazu, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Pelu Taele, 20 Florian Faure, 21 Marcelo Bosch, 22 Ilikena Bolakoro, 23 Dane Haylett-Petty,
Ospreys: 15 Barry Davies, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Tom Smith, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Kahn Fotualii, 22 Matthew Morgan , 23 Shane Williams,
Referee: Wayne Barnes
