Edinburgh Rugby hearts were left broken at the Liberty Stadium tonight when an Ospreys score snatched the win in the last play of the game (26-19).
The sides had been evenly matched throughout, with Tim Visser’s opportunistic score cancelled out by Rhys Webb’s, while the opposing kickers, Greig Laidlaw and Dan Biggar, went kick for kick up until the last minute.
The lead and the match was finally lost when, at 19-19, the Ospreys turned over Edinburgh on their own five metre line and booted the ball to safety.
As Edinburgh sprinted back to cover, the ball miraculously cannoned straight back over the retreating Edinburgh heads and into the hands of the on-rushing Ospreys who put the ball through the hands to captain Justin Tupuric who made amends for an earlier try-surrendering spill to score.
Dan Biggar added the extras and the whistle sounded.
Edinburgh Rugby head coach Michael Bradley, said: "It was obviously a disappointing end to a match in which we performed well for 80 minutes and put ourselves in a very good position to win the game. Our defence and work around the breakdown had been excellent.
"With seconds left we were right where we needed to be and were putting a lot of pressure on Ospreys as we went for the win before they broke and scored. We need to start putting these opportunities away."
Final score: 26-19
Edinburgh Rugby will next take on Michael Bradley's former club, Connacht, at Murrayfield on Friday 16 September (kick-off 7.30pm).
Ospreys team: Richard Fussell; Kristian Phillips, Andrew Bishop, Ashley Beck, Hanno Dirksen; Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb; Duncan Jones, Mefin Davies, CAi Griffiths, Ian Gough, Ian Evans, Justin Tupuric CAPTAIN, Johnathan Thomas
Substitutes: Scot Bladwin, Aaron Jones, Joe Rees, James Goode, Tom Isaacs, Matthew Morgan, Sonny Parker
Edinburgh Rugby team: Tom Brown; Simon Webster, Jim Thompson, James King, Tim Visser; Gregor Hunter, Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN; Kyle Traynor, Steven Lawrie, Lewis Niven, Grant Gilchrist, Esteban Lozada, Sean Cox, Roddy Grant, David Denton
Substitutes: Andrew Kelly, Robin Hislop, Shaun Knight, Steven Turnbull, Hamish Watson, Chris Leck, Andrew Turnbull, Lee Jones
