After trailing 16-3 at the break to Scotland international Hamish Watson’s try and 11 points from the boot of fly-half Ben Healy, a much-improved showing saw the away side almost come away with victory. Hooker Sam Parry and the returning Morgan Morris crossing the try line in a bruising affair, but it would not to be for Booth’s side as Healy sealed the victory with a late penalty.
In an even game, the away side would be punished for what Booth would later describe as giving away ‘easy points’ with Healy taking full advantage to build up a lead.
The one consolation Booth will take when he reflects back is that his side picked up a vital bonus point which may prove crucial in the race for a play-off spot. It will be a tough one to take though on the night for the Osprey’s boss whose side would fall agonisingly short in a pivotal game.
Things had started positively for the Ospreys with man of the moment Dan Edwards kicking an early penalty to strike the lead.
The home side though after a devastating counter attack would rally to score the games first try. Watson finishing a flowing move after Viliame Mata punched his way through the Ospreys defense, before feeding centre Matt Currie to produce the final pass to the flanker.
Healy would convert and would be excellent off the tee as several Ospreys infringements would be punished with Edinburgh in full control at the break.
The Ospreys would rally and would be rewarded for their bravery minutes into the second half. Edwards ignoring the chance for three points from a penalty by kicking into touch before a training ground driving maul saw Parry emerge from a pile of bodies with the all-important score.
The Ospreys would plug away and push for a second try but would find a stubborn Edinburgh defense resilient.
With ten minutes to go, however, they would breach the home side’s backline. After several phases of physical play replacement Morris would carry over the try line to give his side hope.
There would be no repeat of the heroics of Ulster a fortnight ago though as Healy would have the last laugh. The fly-half remaining composed to seal a victory that would put the home side into fourth spot in the table and leave the Ospreys with work to do over the coming weeks.
“There’s obviously a massive air of disappointment and that’s a sign of a team that wants to get better which is good,” said Booth.
“We did though give them easy scores due to our ill-discipline in the first half.
“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and the penalty count in the first half made it difficult. We didn’t take our chances and as a result we didn’t win key moments.
“I think we played a good physical game, but you need to be clinical if you want to be a play-off team.
“If you look at the progress from when we were here last year to where we are now then there has been a lot. The fact that the changing room is so disappointed shows that we’ve got the right people on the bus.
“You need repetition and mimic the pressures you’re under in the game to be more clinical.
“In the key moments, you find out what decisions you’ve made, that’s part of growing and out of every loss or poor performance, you can see the opportunities to improve.
“With 90 seconds to go, we had a chance to win the game. It was out of my hands by that point but that’s the life of a coach. I was massively proud of the character and the effort to get us back in there.
“I thought we were smart in the second half, we won a lot of the scrap battles in the first but when we got to that final third, you just need to be a bit more clinical.
“We had a couple of opportunities, if you couple that with the probably 12 points in penalties, we gave away it makes it very difficult. We got there but we couldn’t get over the line.
“There’s two teams who are ambitious and want to improve and that’s a great thing for a coach to have. The mark of improvement is that people want to be successful, and your group has to represent that both in how it deals with success but also defeat. I think the signs are good.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
