Ngwenya hat-trick inspires Biarritz
Biarritz 36 Ospreys 5
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Your support makes all the difference.Takudzwa Ngwenya scored a blistering hat-trick of tries as Biarritz dumped Ospreys out of the Heineken Cup.
The Zimbabwe-born United States international, who is regarded as one of the fastest men in world rugby, was in superb form during a one-sided rout. The wing Benoît Baby and the impressive former England full-back Iain Balshaw got their other touchdowns with the scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili racking up 11 points through four conversions and a penalty. The Ospreys had the dominant scrum but little else with their only score coming when the replacement hooker, Richard Hibbard, pounced on a Biarritz line-out blunder for a try.
Yachvili twice cut open the Ospreys defence to set up Biarritz's first try with just five minutes on the clock. The ball was worked to Ngwenya and he made light work of a potentially difficult finish by brushing aside Dan Biggar and Eli Walker. Balshaw created the home side's second try. He drew the Ospreys full-back, Barry Davies, before freeing Ngwenya. Yachvili again converted from wide out and even after doing something right, like winning a penalty with a strong scrummage, the Ospreys' kicker, Biggar, failed to find touch. Biarritz ran the ball back and the movement culminated with the flanker Justin Tipuric infringing at the breakdown for Yachvili to slot the penalty to make it 17-0.
The Welsh region made changes at half-time with Ryan Jones taking over from Tom Smith, Ryan Bevington from Paul James and Kahn Fotuali'i from Rhys Webb. But Fotuali'i had been on for barely five minutes before he was sent to the sin bin for an alleged dangerous tackle. While Fotuali'i was kicking his heels a long pass from the Biarritz fly-half, Julien Peyrelongue, put Baby over for an unconverted try. Fotuali'i was still a spectator when Balshaw grounded the ball in the corner. Hibbard registered Ospreys' first points but the one-way traffic resumed when Ngwenya waltzed through for his third try.Scorers: Biarritz: Tries: Ngwenya 3, Baby, Balshaw; Conversions: Yachvili 4; Penalty:Yachvili. Ospreys: Try: Hibbard.
Biarritz: I Balshaw (D Haylett-Petty, 65); T Ngwenya, C Gimenez (M Bosch, 9), D Traille (I Bolakoro, 62), B Baby (F Faure, 72); J Peyrelongue, D Yachvili; F Barcella (E Guinazu, 53), A Heguy (R Terrain, 53; Barcella, 67), S Marconnet (F Gomez Kodela, 48), J Thion, M Carizza (P Taele-Pavihi, 62), W Lauret, B Guyot, I Harinordoquy.
Ospreys: B Davies (S Williams, 33); T Bowe, A Bishop, A Beck, E Walker; D Biggar (M Morgan, 62), R Webb (K Fotuali'i, 40); P James (R Bevington, 40), H Bennett (R Hibbard, 48), A Jones (A Jarvis, 71), I Gough, I Evans (J Bearman, 64), T Smith (R Jones, 40), J Tipuric, J Thomas.
Referee: W Barnes (England).
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