Ospreys 27 - 22 Zebre: Welsh side scrape passed Italians despite poor showing

The Ospreys extended their winning home run in the United Rugby Championship without coming close to touching top gear as they edged past the league’s basement team.

A low-quality game at the Swansea.com Stadium saw Toby Booth’s team score three tries but their attacking game was mediocre and they were uncharacteristically lax in defence.

At one point in the second half they found themselves trailing to a team who hadn’t won a game in any competition in a year.

Head coach Booth will take the win while knowing his side have huge scope to improve.

Admittedly, they were without a stack of players through injuries and Wales calls, but they lacked creativity behind, had an unreliable lineout and made too many unforced errors.

Dan Lydiate was named the official man of the match and he did battle hard on his return to the starting line-up, 13 months after smashing his knee while playing for Wales, but Morgan Morris must have run him close for the award as the No. 7 bucked the trend by being outstanding.

Morris made 17 carries for 51 metres and didn’t miss with any of his 12 tackle attempts.

Ethan Roots also worked hard.

The home touchdowns came from Sam Parry, Morris and Will Griffiths, with Stephen Myler supplying the rest of points.

Kiwi lock Liam Mitchell scored a try for the visitors, while Antonio Rizzi kicked four penalties and a conversion.

It was the Ospreys fourth successive home win in the competition.

But they won’t want to dwell too much on it.

Zebre had the better of the opening quarter, with the visitors happy to run at the Ospreys and looking quite useful as they did so. By contrast, the Welsh team’s back play was laboured, with a lack of precision and penetration.

But the hosts led 17-6 at the interval, with a couple of