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Two tries from Jack Walsh helped the Ospreys move closer to the Challenge Cup knockout stages with a 35-15 bonus point win over Newcastle at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Tries from Sam Parry, Dan Kasende and Kieran Hardy, as well as Walsh’s double, were enough to get past youthful and much-changed Newcastle side in Swansea.
With some of the Wales coaches watching on from the stands ahead of Monday’s Six Nations squad announcement, Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards did his chances of selection no harm with a player of the match performance.
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Heading into the match, the Ospreys were fifth in Pool 2 – with only the winless Newcastle below them. However, this victory boosts their chances ahead of their final pool game away to Pau next week.
It was the away team who struck first, with Louis Brown latching onto Kieran Wilkinson’s chip over the top to score after six minutes.
Mark Jones’ side would take a little longer to click into gear. Scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams lofted a looping pass over the Newcastle edge to find Keelan Giles, with the wing chipping ahead from the touchline to set up full-back Walsh.
The boot of Wilkinson from the tee would hand the visitors the lead again, but it wasn’t to last as the Ospreys’ quality showed against the Gallagher Premiership’s basement club.
A powerful driving maul allowed Parry, who could feasibly solve Wales’ hooking injury crisis after admitting he was open to a Test recall, to force his way over the line for the Ospreys’ second try.
And then, after a lovely dummy and snipe around the fringes from Morgan-Williams, with the scrum-half having been talked up by head coach Jones this week for a place in Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad, it was Walsh who turned provider to put wing Kasende over in the corner.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the home side, with second-row Will Spencer sin-binned for head-on-head contact with Ollie Leatherbarrow.
Having scored three tries in the opening half-hour, the Ospreys would have to wait a while for the bonus point score to arrive.
It wasn’t until there were 15 minutes left that Walsh crossed for his second after the Ospreys’ driving maul had created the space.
They wouldn’t have to wait quite as long for the fifth. Quick hands from Justin Tipuric and Owen Watkin releasing Kasende into space, with the wing putting over scrum-half Hardy.
The scrum-half would cross minutes later, being the first in a long queue lining up to get onto Giles’ kick behind as the Ospreys countered from a turnover. However, the Wales scrum-half was offside.
Instead, it would be the youthful Newcastle side that would have the final say, with wing Max Pepper crossing out wide.