Biggar's boot sends Ospreys top

Dan Biggar fired Ospreys back to the top of the Pro12 table with a composed kicking performance in a narrow 19-14 victory over Munster at Thomond Park.

The Welsh international flyhalf marshalled his side in impressive fashion alongside man-of-the-match Rhys Webb to help the visitors claim their fourth consecutive win of the season.

Gerhard van den Heever's early try for Munster was quickly cancelled out by Jeff Hassler with Biggar landing his conversion and a further penalty before Ian Keatley reduced the deficit to 8-10 at the break.

Keatley slotted two further penalties either side of Biggar's second success as the lead routinely changed hands while Ospreys lock Rynier Bernardo was in the sin bin.

Biggar then held his nerve to strike over twice more and the Ospreys defence held firm to record a third straight win against an Irish province for the first time since February 2013.

Steve Tandy was absent with his wife due to give birth to their third child but the head coach will be delighted with the performance of his halfbacks in securing Ospreys' first win in Limerick since 2011.

Munster took the lead after securing a line-out five metres out and spreading the ball wide once their initial maul was stopped short for wing van den Heever, in for last week's hat-trick hero Simon Zebo, to touch down in the corner.

Keatley missed his tough touchline conversion attempt and the hosts found themselves behind moments later after sterling work from Justin Tipuric in attack.

The Welsh international cut a great angle through the Irish side's defence and then showed deft hands to put in Hassler for an easy run-in, with Biggar converting.

Ospreys started to display their attacking prowess with Biggar sprinting through a gap in the Munster line and sending a flat pass to halfback partner Webb before the hosts' defence recovered.

The Welsh side were dealt a blow when the impressive Tipuric, only recently returned from a long-standing shoulder injury, stayed down after a knock to the head and was replaced by James King.

Hassler thought he had doubled his tally after surging through another gap but the try was disallowed by referee Neil Hennessy for a block by inside centre Josh Matavesi.

Biggar, who has won 25 caps for his country, then extended his side's lead with a long-range penalty just after the half hour with Munster collapsing the visitors' maul following a line-out.

Keatley responded in kind just before the interval with a penalty right in front of the posts to reduce the deficit to two points at the break.

The Munster flyhalf edged his side into an 11-10 lead at the start of the second half after he landed his second penalty attempt.

Bernardo was sent to the bin five minutes later for illegally pulling down a line-out but Keatley struck his attempt wide to keep it a one-point game.

Despite their man advantage, Munster fell behind in the 53rd minute as Bigger bisected the posts with his second penalty to make it 13-11.

The lead changed hands once more with Bernardo still off the pitch as Keatley slotted a well-taken penalty to restore his side's narrow advantage.

With Ospreys back up to 15 inside the final quarter of the game Munster were penalised for holding on with Biggar once again on target to put his side 16-14 in front.

Heading into the final 10 minutes the visitors were awarded another penalty with Biggar squeezing his strike inside the left-hand post to give his side a five-point lead.

Munster redoubled their efforts to try and prevent a second loss of the season but were met with a resolute Ospreys defence who cleared any potential danger.

* In the other Saturday game Kelly Haimona found his kicking boots in the second half as Zebre saw off 14-man Ulster to record their maiden win of the Pro12 season.

Saturday's scores and scorers!

Zebre 13-6 Ulster

The scorers:

For Zebre:

Try: Chistolini

Con: Haimona

Pen: Haimona

DG: Haimona

For Ulster:

Pens: Humphreys 2

Yellow card: Oliviero Fabiani (Zebre, 77)

Red card: Declan Fitzpatrick (Ulster, 10)

The teams:

Zebre: 15 Hendrik Daniller, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Kelly Haimona, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Samuela Vunisa, 7 Filippo Cristiano, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 5 George Biagi, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys (captain), 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.

Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Luciano Leibson, 19 Andries Ferreira, 20 Valerio Bernabò, 21 Alberto Chillon, 22 Gonzalo Garcia, 23 Luciano Orquera.

Ulster: 15 Craig Gilroy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Michael Allen, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Michael Heaney, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Clive Ross, 6 Roger Wilson (captain), 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Neil McComb, 3 Declan Fitzpatrick, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Callum Black.

Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Andrew Trimble.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Matteo Liperini (Italy), Stefano Pennè (Italy)

TMO: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

Munster 14-19 Ospreys

For Munster:

Try: Van den Heever

Pens: Keatley 3

For Ospreys:

Try: Hassler

Con: Biggar

Pens: Biggar 4

Yellow card: Rynier Bernardo (Ospreys, 47)

The teams:

Munster: 15 Johne Murphy, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Ivan Dineen, 12 Denis Hurley, 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray (captain), 8 CJ Stander, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Paddy Butler, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Duncan Casey, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.

Replacements: 16 Kevin O'Byrne, 17 James Cronin, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Jack O'Donoghue, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Andrew Smith.

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Joe Bearman, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.

Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 James King, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Hanno Dirksen.

Referee: Neil Hennessy (Wales)

Assistant referees: Gary Conway (Ireland), Nigel Correll (Ireland)

TMO: Dermot Moloney (Ireland)