Challenge Cup – Ospreys Fly Flag For Wales Beating Sale Sharks To Reach Quarter-final

 

Ospreys continued to fly the flag for Wales in the EPCR competitions, beating Sale Sharks 20-15 to reach the quarter-final stage of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

They came from behind to do it, with an Owen Williams penalty and a try from Morgan Morris putting them in front at half-time following Robert du Preez's early penalty for Sale Sharks.

Ospreys then stayed on the front foot at the start of the second half, with tries from Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams, plus a conversion from Williams.

Sale Sharks made the closing minutes tense, though, with tries from Arron Reed and Ben Curry and a penalty from du Preez closing the gap to just five points with 11 minutes to go.

But Ospreys held on, and will now play Gloucester Rugby away from home in the last eight.

Scorers:
Ospreys: Tries: Morgan Morris, Keelan Giles, Reuben Morgan-Williams. Conversion: Owen Williams. Penalty: Owen Williams.
Sale Sharks: Tries: Arron Reed, Ben Curry. Conversion: Robert du Preez. Penalty: Robert du Preez.

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Keiran Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Harri Deaves, 5 Adam Beard, 4 James Ratti, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Gareth Thomas. Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 1 Nicky Smith, 18 Rhys Henry, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Max Nagy.

Sale Sharks: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Arron Reed, 13 Sam James, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Ben Curry (c), 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ben Bamber, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Ross Harrison. Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Willgriff John, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Connor Doherty, 23 Alex Wills.