Last-gasp Morgan try snatches Ospreys win at Leicester

Ospreys had earlier crossed through Dewi Lake and Keelan Giles in the Round 4, Pool B contest at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, but trailed by six points heading into the final 10 minutes.

Jack van Poortvliet and Harry Simmons went over for Leicester’s tries, with Handré Pollard contributing 16 points from the tee as they looked to have done enough to ensure home advantage in the Round of 16.

But after spending the remainder of the game camped on the Leicester line as the penalties racked up, Ospreys eventually found a crucial score as No.8 Morgan wriggled over and fly-half Williams held his nerve to add the extras and take his personal tally to 10 points.

Leicester opened the scoring on two minutes as Pollard dispatched a three-pointer, but Ospreys hit back with the game’s first try when hooker Lake dotted down amid an excellent lineout drive.

There was a near-immediate response from Leicester, though, as scrum-half van Poortvliet stepped out from behind a maul and darted over in a clever finish.

Leicester looked to have a second try on 19 minutes when wing Simmons hit a brilliant line and went over next to the posts, but a TMO review revealed that Ospreys centre Mike Collins had produced a sensational tackle to prevent the ball from being grounded.

But the hosts had a penalty coming and extended their lead through Pollard, with Williams slicing wide for Ospreys moments later.

The Welsh region continued to enjoy periods in the ascendancy and Williams made no mistake with another penalty on 26 minutes, reducing the gap to three points.

Leicester were back on the front foot at the end of the first half but squandered the opportunity to cross, with Ospreys ultimately escaping and levelling the scores through Williams’ second penalty of the evening.

Leicester struck first following the restart as Simmons picked his way through the Ospreys defence and went over the whitewash unchallenged.

But as the home side pushed for a third try, a Pollard pass went to ground and Ospreys hacked forward, with the ball sitting up nicely for wing Giles to gather on halfway and streak over to see the scores levelled again.

However, two quickfire Pollard penalties saw Leicester six points clear on 69 minutes and looked to be enough to see the Gallagher Premiership side to end their pool stage campaign with a fourth straight win.

Despite around a quarter of an hour of committed defence metres from their own line, Leicester eventually succumbed on 89 minutes as Morgan did enough to convince the TMO he had the ball grounded in a dramatic finish.