The Ospreys clung on by their fingernails in the face of a dramatic Connacht second half fightback to take the full five points and move on up into the play-off places in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
In a crazy game of 83 points and 12 tries, both teams scored six tries, before Adam Beard delighted in kicking the ball off the field in the 86th minute to bring the often frantic action to a close.
That Connacht were able to leave with two points was amazing given that four minutes into the second half they found themselves trailing by 24 points after man of the match Jack Walsh had rounded off a ruthless counter-attack from the Ospreys 10 metre line with a fifth try after six players had handled.
But while the home crowd were loving it, they were put through the wringer before the final whistle came in the 86th minute as Connacht staged a remarkable comeback. From 34-14 they got back to 43-40 and had two kicks deep into the Ospreys 22 after the clock went red to try to win it at the death.
By this time the Ospreys had lost Justin Tipuric, Keiran Williams. Tom Botha and Garyn Phillips and had had replacement centre Joe Cokanasinga and replacement hooker George McGuigan packing down in the back row of the scrum.
It was crazy and wonderful in equal measure, with the upshot being the Ospreys move up five places in the table into seventh place.
The visitors got off to a flying start with a try after only three minutes in the left corner from Finn Treacey that the wing started by gathering a towering up and under superbly in his own half. His clean take enabled Connacht to get onto the front foot and he was eventually given a run to the line after a clean break into the 22 by Cathal Forde.
Josh Ione was able to convert from wide out and he also provided the extras for a try at the posts from flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton that the outside half had provided for him. In between Dan Edwards had got the Ospreys on the board with a penalty, but there was no suggestion of the avalanche of tries that was to come from the home side before the break.
What started as a very even contest, with the Connacht back line movement posing plenty of problems for the visiting defence suddenly turned as the Welsh region began to dictate terms up front.
Keelan Giles was in the right place at the right time off his wing to notch the first of his brace of tries following a neat touchline move and he scored again when the home side shunned an easy three points with a penalty in front of the posts on the 22 and instead took a scrum.
They moved the ball left to where Ioane had moved out onto the wing after an injury to Shayne Bolton and Giles was given a walk in. From the re-start Kieran Hardy raced over at the posts and then from the next kick-off Daniel Kasende chased a kick over the top and simply strolled in to score.
Edwards kept on kicking the conversions and by the break the Ospreys had a bonus-point in the bag and were leading 31-14. A thrilling counter-attack try from full back Jack Walsh four minutes into the second half, after the ball had gone through six pairs of hands, stretched the lead to 24 points and Connacht’s season was hanging in the balance.
A driving line-out try from hooker Dave Heffernan got them back on track and two minutes later Piers O’Connor crossed. JJ Hanrahan converted both and the gap was suddenly only 10 points with half-an-hour to play.
For most of that time it was Connacht on the front foot as they chased an unlikely win. Kasende’s long range sprint dented the fightback, but then Josh Murphy and Hurley-Langton crossed in the space of two minutes and another Hanrahan conversion made it a three-point game with 10 minutes of normal time to play.