Ospreys stretched by Worcester resistance

Ospreys 37 Worcester 22

It is a case of played two, won two down in Ospreylia, but the swankiest of the four Welsh regional teams will not be counting too many EDF Energy chickens as they continue the defence of the trophy they secured at Twickenham last spring. After their narrow squeak against a second-string Harlequins line-up in the first round of fixtures, they had their fair share of problems yesterday against a Worcester outfit denied the services of important outside backs and loose forwards.

For a few minutes either side of the hour mark, some big Ospreys reputations were on the line, as well as their Anglo-Welsh title. First among those reputations was James Hook's, a live contender for next summer's Lions tour of South Africa. Set free down the right by the impressive Tommy Bowe, the outside-half had 50 metres of clear blue water between him and the goal-line. A try looked certain, but just as he was preparing to dot down for a nice little five-pointer, he was tackled into touch by Matt Mullan – a loose-head prop who was put on this earth to maul and scrummage and do horrible things to other props in the darkened recesses, not to make fools of natural athletes in full public view.

"That was a fantastic effort," said his coach, Mike Ruddock. "I had a text message from an old front-row acquaintance of mine after the game, asking who the hell Matt Mullan might be. As a matter of fact, we've been talking about Matt as a potential England prop for some time now. He's scrummaged well against Matt Stevens and Phil Vickery. He made 18 tackles for us in a recent game. Not all of them like that one, mind you."

Mullan is a regular first-teamer now, and together with some other prominent members of the Worcester elite – Chris Latham, Sam Tuitupou and Aleki Lutui – he caught the eye more than once here. Yet so did the younger brigade, plucked straight from the Sixways academy. In particular, the aggressive blind-side flanker Matt Cox managed to annoy every Osprey he encountered. To say he was not frightened of his elders and betters would be a considerable understatement.

But the Welsh side were too good in open field to let the result slip away, especially after a bizarre incident at the end of the first half that put daylight between them and their hard-working visitors. Latham, the former Wallaby full-back, tapped a penalty to himself as the clock ticked towards the interval and, convinced that time was up, banged the ball into touch before heading for the tunnel. To his alarm, the referee David Rose decided there was a second or two left and insisted that the line-out go ahead. The Ospreys jumpers won the ball cleanly, spun it to Gavin Henson in midfield and watched in admiration as the centre sold the still exasperated Latham the cleanest of side-steps to score near the sticks.

The Ospreys were now 10 points clear, and when Shane Williams maximised a straightforward overlap opportunity four minutes into the second period, the home side looked likely to finish with an awful lot to not very many. But Worcester dug in and were duly rewarded by a clattering try from Tuitupou and a couple of successful kicks from Matthew Jones. It was not until Ospreys introduced the excellent Adam Jones at tight-head prop that they quelled the uprising and managed to reassert their authority.

Infinitely more dangerous in open field, they wrapped things up with a stoppage-time try from Bowe in the left corner. Worcester did not deserve that last blow to the solar plexus, but rugby can be a cruel game.

Scorers: Ospreys Tries Walker, Henson, Williams, Bowe; Conversion Hook; Penalties Hook 5. Worcester Try Tuitupou; Conversion Jones; Penalties Jones 5.

Ospreys: L Byrne; N Walker, T Bowe, G Henson, S Williams; J Hook, R Webb (J Nutbrown, 46); D Jones (capt), R Hibbard (E Shirvington, 73), A Millward (A Jones, 53), I Gough, L Bateman (A W Jones, 58), T Smith (R Jones, 65), S Tandy, F Tiatia.

Worcester: C Latham (T Wheatcroft, 71); C Pennell, A Grove, S Tuitupou, C Fellows; M Jones, R Powell (M Powell, 66); M Mullan (D Morris, 71), A Lutui, T Taumoepeau (S Ruwers, 71), G Rawlinson (capt), C Gillies, M Cox, J Abbott, N Talei.

Referee: D Rose (England).