Six tries were shared on the night in an enthralling contest, with lock Rory Thornton’s score from the hosts wiped out by Ospreys centre Kieran Williams effort, to leave Cardiff with a slender three-point lead at the break.
Major discipline issues, however, were the main talking points of the clash with Ospreys playing a majority of the match with 14 men after a 20-minute red to wing Dan Kasende, whilst centre Owen Watkin and fly-half Dan Edwards also spent time in the sin bin.
Cardiff also had problems of their own with hooker Liam Beltcher’s early trip to the bin and, later, lock Josh McNally, having spells off the pitch, but the Blues handled being a man down better than the visitors.
Despite the Ospreys defending admirably, the number’s game would tell with Belcher powering over from close-range for the home side early in the second period, before flanker Dan Thomas dived over to extend the advantage.
Ospreys would respond again with replacement prop Cam Jones, bursting clear to send full-back Jack Walsh over.
Edwards added the extras to pull it back to 24-14, and with three minutes left, the Ospreys’ number ten converted his own try to make it 24-21 to set up a grandstand finish, but Cardiff held on for their first since 2007 at the Arms Park.
When questioned on his side’s discipline, Jones admitted it was an issue, but was not the only factor leading to the defeat.
“It was one of the problems. You can’t go to a team like Cardiff as well as they are going and keep 14 out there for the majority of the game,” said Jones post-match.
“Spending time as well with 13 definitely challenged us to manage those periods. I don’t think we managed those as well as we have done in the past.
“I think that led to us burning a lot of energy in our own half, feeding Cardiff when we didn’t need to.
“We had other things out there we could have controlled better, other than the officials’ decisions. We need to execute our own game better.
“I thought Cardiff were a little quicker to the punch everywhere, if I’m honest with you. They looked a bit sharper, a bit cleaner on things.
“That is probably why they have won so many tight games this year, because of their accuracy. You have to give them credit for that.
“Obviously, we would have loved to have delivered more of what we have done in the last month in our games – we have been a lot better than that.
“I think it showed up when we don’t reach that level, we don’t win. It’s probably a fair result if you look at the performance of both teams.
Despite the URC play-offs now mathematically impossible, Jones still feels there is still more to play for in the season, starting with a massive local derby with Scarlets in Bridgend next weekend.
“We still have the Welsh Shield to play for, and that is something to be proud of,” continued the Ospreys boss.
“Welsh rugby perhaps is not held in the esteem that it once was in previous years, but I still think that trying to win that is important for the fans and the players.
“It’s definitely something tangible that we would like to get done. It’s going to be a big ask against a pretty passionate Scarlets team.
“We want to gain some momentum into next year after everything that has gone on and finish with a couple of wins and good performances, so there are not too many negative thoughts in the off-season.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
