There were few crumbs of comfort in defeat for the Welsh region. Steve Tandy’s side were second best throughout where there was a distinct lack of a cutting edge in attack from the home side as they slipped to their second home defeat while Glasgow claimed their first scalp of the season.
In a lack lustre first half the home side found themselves trailing 0-15 at the break. Basic mistakes and poor execution stifled the Opsreys hopes in the first half.
Glasgow may not have offered much in attack themselves but when the chances came they were clinical. The match was only three minutes old when visiting wing DTH van der Merwe plucked a cross field kick from Ospreys fly half Dan Biggar out of the air. The simple act of catching the ball caught the home side napping and the speedster flew 80 metres to score in the corner.
Duncan Weir missed the conversion and a penalty before finally sending the ball between the posts in the 13th minute, after seeing inspirational halfback Chris Cusiter leave the field injured.
International scrum half Rhys Webb was guilty of a schoolboy error in the 28th minute which gifted the Scottish side their second try. There appeared to be no danger at a defending ruck, but when one of his own players accidentally kicked the ball out of his hands, Webb simply stopped playing and remonstrated with the referee.
The Scottish side didn’t show any such hesitation and picked up the scraps to see flanker Chris Fusaro plunge over. Weir’s conversion gave Glasgow a handy 0-15 lead.
Things went from bad to worse after the re-start when Webb received a yellow card for a professional foul in the 44th minute. Weir compounded Ospreys’ woes with the resulting penalty.
The Ospreys forward pack began to show some mettle and unsettled Glasgow with a series of charges near the try-line. James Eddie was next to see yellow for collapsing a maul and for once the home side made the visitors pay.
After a couple of close shaves, lock Ian Evans piled drived his way over despite the attention of two tacklers. Biggar’s conversion reduced the arrears but Weir knocked over another penalty to put further daylight between the two sides.
Biggar reduced the arrears to 15 points with a penalty but it still left the Ospreys with plenty to do. Indiscipline cost the Ospreys a further three points when Alun Wyn Jones backchatted the referee and Jackson slotted the penalty.
Glasgow were able to repel anything the Ospreys threw at them in the closing stages to get their opening win of the season while the home side are still searching in vain for their first victory.
