THE soap opera of Glasgow’s home and away form continued with another heavy defeat on the road as their roller-coaster start to the season hit one of the down patches.
Two late tries for Glasgow around the 80-minute mark masked the fact this was a second comprehensive defeat away sandwiching an impressive home win, though coach Franco Smith was keen to focus on the small mistakes that should be easy to correct.
“Well done to the Ospreys and we could see their determination in the way they dominated the contact area, but we were inaccurate from the start,” said Smith.
“We did not convert anything positive, we did not have continuity in attack so we could not create that pressure. I am absolutely not in despair – we are a better team than we were today.
“The disallowed try was very important, their try which was reviewed for ripping the ball out of our player’s hand, if we had favour in that one it could have been tight to the end, but we were not as accurate as last week.
“We had execution errors where last week we dominated the scoreboard. The fact that in the last three or four minutes we created the same amount of space, the ball was going through the hands, shows there were individual errors which must be fixed.”
No.8 Jack Dempsey went off with a rib cartilage injury, but Glasgow will know more tomorrow, while the Ospreys were concerned about outside half Gareth Anscombe who also went off with a rib injury from an incident which could see the citing officer being involved.
Everything that clicked against Cardiff at Scotstoun, was missing in Swansea. The bounce of the ball went against Glasgow, but more importantly they were unable to capitalise on the pressure they did have – especially from five-metre line-outs.
The Ospreys suffered an early loss when No.8 Ethan Roots charged up to tackle Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown prioritising speed over technique, which meant a head injury and being stretchered off.
The No.8 position was clearly jinxed for two minutes later Dempsey was walking off holding his ribs with Ryan Wilson coming on for his first taste of action this season.
The warning signs were there for Glasgow with Osprey wing Keelan Giles having a try disallowed following a Rhys Webb knock on. It was a fortunate escape for Glasgow, but the reprieve was temporary and Giles was not to be denied the opening try.
Ospreys’ pressure in a line-out on the right created space on the left, but Giles still had plenty to do to slip past Sebastian Cancelliere and then get the ball down in the corner. Anscombe added the conversion.
Then it was Glasgow’s turn to be denied what looked a superb, length-of-the-pitch try.
Glasgow’s backs recognised the opportunity with centre Sam Johnson setting off from a turnover, full-back Cole Forbes making the break, with the ball going back inside to Cancelliere and Ali Price for Johnson to finish.
Unfortunately a TV review decided Scott Cummings had knocked on in regathering the ball, with salt being rubbed into the wound as the Ospreys won a penalty from the next play and Anscombe slotted three points.
Glasgow finally got on the scoreboard with the last kick of the half, Tom Jordan kicking a penalty. However, they were still very much in the arm wrestle at 10-3.
Giles added his second early in the second half, centre Owen Watkin stripping the ball from Jordan, Webb kicking into the empty space and the Ospreys wing having the pace to regather first.
Glasgow found themselves struggling to get back into the game. Penalty kicks to the corner either missed, or the resulting line-out drive was penalised.
Three more penalty kicks to the corner and driving line-outs brought a yellow card for home flanker Dan Lydiate, but still Glasgow were unable to force their way through.
The Ospreys sealed victory when centre Michael Collins chipped ahead, got a lucky bounce and supporting replacement scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams got the pass out for wing George North to score.
Morgan-Williams got the bonus-point fourth try from a five-metre scrum, the defence opening up too easily.
Glasgow finished strongly, prop Oli Kebble and flanker Tim Gordon both going over in the closing minutes, almost the definition of too little, too late.
Scorers, Ospreys – Tries: Giles 2, North, Morgan-Williams. Cons: Anscombe 2, Walsh. Pens: Anscombe, Walsh.
Glasgow Warriors – Tries: Kebble, Gordon. Cons: Miotti 2. Pen: Jordan.
Ospreys: M Nagy; G North, O Watkin, M Collins, K Giles (L Morgan 73); G Anscombe (J Walsh 47), R Webb (capt, R Morgan-Williams 68); N Smith (R Henry 73), S Baldwin (D Lake 54), T Francis (T Botha 59), A Beard, AW Jones, D Lydiate, J Morgan, E Roots (W Griffiths 8, R Davies 73).
Glasgow: C Forbes; S Cancelliere, S Tuipulotu, S Johnson, R McLean, T Jordan (D Miotti 66), A Price (capt, S Kennedy 66); J Bhatti (O Kebble 46), F Brown (G Turner 46), Z Fagerson (S Berghan 46), S Cummings, R Gray (JP du Preez 55), G Brown (S Manjezi 75), T Gordon, J Dempsey (R Wilson 12)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
