James Hook was the star of the show as the Ospreys inflicted Cardiff Blues’ biggest Magners League defeat of the season, 22-3.
Wales fly half Hook was in sparkling kicking form kicking 17 points in the Welsh derby clash at the Liberty Stadium. He slotted five penalties and converted Huw Bennett’s second-half try as Lyn Jones’s men bounced back from defeat at the Llanelli Scarlets last week.
Cardiff Blues coach Dai Young had stoked up the fire on the eve of the match by labelling the Ospreys “the self-proclaimed best squad ever assembled in Wales” and he was proved right as his men were over-powered.
Ospreys captain Ryan Jones said: “I think we’ve turned the corner. We’ve brought a physicality and great defence which will win you games and tournaments and championships.”
The defending Magners League champions were missing British Lions and Wales centre Gavin Henson who failed a fitness test on his fractured wrist. But the Ospreys’ star-studded line-up brushed aside Cardiff with consummate ease.
The visitors had a golden opportunity to take the lead on nine minutes but fullback Ben Blair, playing his first match in three weeks, showed his rustiness by pulling a long-range penalty wide to the right of the posts.
Hook then showed Blair just how to do it by opening the scoring on 15 minutes with a confident strike from 35 metres. And in a disappointing half littered with basic errors, Hook provided the spark when he added his second and third penalties on 19 and 24 minutes to hand the Ospreys a comfortable 9-0 lead.
Cardiff hit back two minutes later thanks to a Blair penalty and were granted a further boost when Ospreys’ flanker Marty Holah was yellow-carded for slowing the ball down at a ruck.
But Hook extended the hosts 9-3 half-time advantage with his fourth successful kick on 45 minutes before Cardiff saw flanker Maama Molitika sin-binned.
The Ospreys, unlike their opponents, took full advantage of the extra man with Hook maintaining his immaculate 100% successful kicking display with a fifth penalty before Bennett powered over from close range after Shane Williams was halted just short of the try-line for the crucial score in the 53rd minute.
Young said: “Our discipline wasn’t good enough but the big difference between the sides was the kicking. They kicked extremely well and we kicked poorly.”
