Pollard's boot not enough as Ospreys edge Leicester with last-gasp try
CHAMPIONS CUP REPORT: Ospreys qualified for the Champions Cup Round of 16 as an 88th-minute Jac Morgan score, converted by Owen Williams, handed them a 27-26 win at Leicester Tigers on Friday.
Ospreys had earlier crossed through Dewi Lake and Keelan Giles in the Round Four, Pool B contest at Welford Road, but trailed by six points heading into the final 10 minutes.
Jack van Poortvliet and Harry Simmons went over for Leicester’s tries, with Handré Pollard contributing 16 points from the tee as they looked to have done enough to ensure home advantage in the Round of 16.
But after spending the remainder of the game camped on the Leicester line as the penalties racked up, Ospreys eventually found a crucial score as No.8 Morgan wriggled over and flyhalf Williams held his nerve to add the extras and take his personal tally to 10 points.
Leicester opened the scoring on two minutes as Pollard dispatched a three-pointer, but Ospreys hit back with the game’s first try when hooker Lake dotted down amid an excellent line-out drive.
There was a near-immediate response from Leicester, though, as scrumhalf van Poortvliet stepped out from behind a maul and darted over in a clever finish.
Leicester looked to have a second try on 19 minutes when wing Simmons hit a brilliant line and went over next to the posts, but a TMO review revealed that Ospreys centre Mike Collins had produced a sensational tackle to prevent the ball from being grounded.
But the hosts had a penalty coming and extended their lead through Pollard, with Williams slicing wide for Ospreys moments later.
The Welsh region continued to enjoy periods in the ascendancy and Williams made no mistake with another penalty on 26 minutes, reducing the gap to three points.
Leicester were back on the front foot at the end of the first half but squandered the opportunity to cross, with Ospreys ultimately escaping and levelling the scores through Williams’ second penalty of the evening.
Leicester struck first following the restart as Simmons picked his way through the Ospreys defence and went over the whitewash unchallenged.
But as the home side pushed for a third try, a Pollard pass went to ground and Ospreys hacked forward, with the ball sitting up nicely for wing Giles to gather on halfway and streak over to see the scores levelled again.
However, two quickfire Pollard penalties saw Leicester six points clear on 69 minutes and looked to be enough to see the Gallagher Premiership side to end their pool stage campaign with a fourth straight win.
Despite around a quarter of an hour of committed defence metres from their own line, Leicester eventually succumbed on 89 minutes as Morgan did enough to convince the TMO he had the ball grounded in a dramatic finish.
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Van Poortvliet, Simmons
Cons: Pollard 2
Pens: Pollard 4
For Ospreys:
Tries: Lake, Giles, Morgan
Cons: Evans, O Williams 2
Pens: O Williams 2
Yellow card: Dan Richardson (Leicester, 85′)
Teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Harry Simmons, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 5 Cameron Henderson, 4 Ollie Chessum, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 James Whitcombe.
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Dan Richardson, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jimmy Gopperth, 23 Charlie Atkinson.
Ospreys: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Michael Collins, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Jac Morgan, 7 Justin Tipuric (captain), 6 Rhys Davies, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Rhys Henry, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 Morgan Morris, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Keiran Williams, 23 George North.
Referee: Tual Trainini (France)
Assistant Referees: Adrien Descottes (France), Christophe Bultet (France)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (France)
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