Biggar the better for Ospreys
Dan Biggar kicked five penalties as the Ospreys remained in the Magners League title race with victory over Munster.
Last Updated: 24/04/10 9:35pm
Fly-half Dan Biggar booted five penalties as the Ospreys remained in the Magners League title race with a 15-11 victory over Munster.
The Welshman produced a flawless place-kicking display as the Welsh outfit claimed their first ever win at Thomond Park.
The hard-fought victory puts Sean Holley's men on the brink of securing a home semi-final, while they trail leaders Leinster by just three points heading into the final game of the regular season.
Munster's stand-in captain Ronan O'Gara scored a try and kicked two penalties in reply, but he also missed four other kicks, totalling 11 points, as the Irish side's hopes of defending the league title took a serious hit.
The result leaves Munster in fourth place in the standings, meaning they will have to beat the Cardiff Blues away in two weeks' time and hope that other sides slip up in order to reach the semi-finals.
O'Gara opened the scoring 11 minutes into a scrappy affair at Thomond Park with a well-struck penalty.
Scramble
The Ireland international missed two further penalty chances though, the second of which he really should have converted.
And his opposite number Biggar made him pay with clinical strikes after 23 and 31 minutes.
Prop Paul James foraged well at a ruck to tee up the young outside-half for a smashing strike from distance, and he punished Alan Quinlan with another well-struck effort on the half hour, setting up a 6-3 half-time lead.
Munster full-back Paul Warwick came closest to breaching the try-line but his sniping run on the left was ended by a knock on, forced by a Jerry Collins tackle.
The Ospreys seized the initiative at the start of the second half with a 42nd minute penalty from Biggar and Munster had to scramble back to deny Andrew Bishop a try after a Mike Phillips break.
Two more successful kicks from Biggar, the second coming after Munster number eight James Coughlan was sin-binned for hands in the ruck, left the home side with a mountain to climb at 15-3 down.
The home side fought hard in the final quarter and were rewarded on 71 minutes when O'Gara snuck down the blindside to touch down.
However, he could not add the conversion from wide out on the right and the Ospreys, with Tommy Bowe and Collins putting in some telling hits, deservedly held on to become the first Welsh region to win in Limerick since the Dragons did so six years ago.
