In a physical encounter, both sides experimented with their full squad of players. This would have given Jones further clues as to his teams expected performance. , but one observation he could not have failed to make was that Pugh scored the only points for the home side. o flow.
The Ospreys started promisingly in front of an encouraging crowd of 4,438 and could have opened the scoring in the first five minutes as full back Gavin Henson entered the line but a good tackle allowed Bath to clear the danger.
The first points did follow soon after but surprisingly resulted from a Bath penalty after they chose to take a quick tap but lost the ball forwards. Prop Andrew Millward did well to pick up the loose ball and offload to debut making wing Aled Brew.
He showed good skill to beat a defender and make ground into the twenty two before passing inside to the supporting Pugh. The flanker crossed in the left corner but Matthew Jones was wide with the conversion attempt to leave the score at 5-0.
Bath began to dominate possession and territory and were only denied their first points by strong defence from the Ospreys. An interception by centre Elvis Seveali’i could have resulted in a breakaway try but the referee called play back for an earlier offence.
From the resulting scrum Bath scored a try to take the lead for the first time. Outside half Niall Malone almost reached the try line but flanker Michael Lipman was on hand to cross near the posts. Malone added the conversion for a 7-5 lead with almost half an hour gone.
The remainder of the half saw chances for both sides but defences were dominant with neither side showing enough creativity to add to their score.
The start of the second half saw wholesale changes in both teams and the game continued in a similar vein to the first half. The Bath pack performed strongly as the Ospreys struggled at the ruck area.
Adam Jones received a yellow card barely ten minutes after entering the field but the Ospreys continued to defend strongly with only fourteen men on the field. England international Olly Barkley added a penalty to extend his side’s lead to five points with twenty minutes remaining.
The Ospreys enjoyed their best spell of the second half around this time with a number of scrums and lineouts in the Bath twenty two but were unable to add to their tally. Andy Williams scored a try following a lineout win by James Bater but the score was disallowed as the throw was called as not straight.
Wales prop Duncan Jones came on as a replacement and put in a number of crunching tackles but even he could not help the Ospreys snatch victory from the visitors. Wing Alex Crockett scored a second Bath try to seal the win in the final couple of minutes with Barkley missing the simple conversion.
