Edinburgh crush the Ospreys

Edinburgh stormed the summit of the Magners League on Sunday with a blistering 33-17 win over the Ospreys at Murrayfield.

Winger Tim Visser picked up a hat-trick after coming off the bench when Simon Webster suffered an early injury.

Webster was able to walk off with a rib problem after 15 minutes, but a much more serious injury appeared to be sustained in the second half when the game was stopped for a prolonged period after lock Craig Hamilton was hurt at a ruck.

Hamilton was taken to hospital as a precaution after suffering a head injury.

Edinburgh had the better of possession and territory early on but were undone as much by their own errors as the Ospreys defence.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 34th minute after a five-metre scrum gave Edinburgh an attacking platform.

Nick De Luca found Ben Cairns in the line and he passed to Visser to draw two defenders before returning the ball to Cairns for the score, which was converted by David Blair.

Ospreys passed up a clear-cut chance to score in the last minute of the first half when full-back Gareth Owen could not find his support, so Edinburgh led 7-0 at the interval.

And th home side soon ended the game as a contest with four tries in eight minutes in the second half.

Cairns set up the first with a break from deep before Visser hared in from the left.

The second saw Visser get possession on his 10-metre line on the right wing from where he ran and then kicked long to the line to follow up and score.

For the third he was fed by hooker Andrew Kelly and ran in under the posts.

On the other wing, Mark Robertson showed he could stretch his legs too, running in a beauty from his own half. Replacement Phil Godman knocked over all but one conversion.

Ospreys roused themselves in the final quarter to get on the scoresheet when TV evidence allowed winger Nikki Walker to be awarded the unconverted score.

And further tries from flanker Gerry Collins and Sonny Parker gave the scoreline a more respectable look.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Cairns, Visser 3, Robertson
Cons: Blair, Godman 3

For the Ospreys:
Tries:Walker, Collins, Parker
Con: Biggar

Edinburgh: 15 Ben Cairns, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 John Houston, 11 Simon Webster, 10 David Blair, 9 Mike Blair (capt), 8 Roddy Grant, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Steve Turnbull, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Andrew Kelly, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Sean Crombie, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Craig Hamilton, 19 David Callam, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Tim Visser.

Ospreys : 15 Gareth Owen/Barry Davies, 14 Jonny Vaughton, 13 Sonny Parker, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Filo Tiatia, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Jerry Collins (Capt), 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Richard Hibbard/Ed Shervington, 1 Ryan Bevington.
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington/Marc Breeze, 17 Cai Griffiths, 18 Andy Lloyd/James Goode, 19 Steve Tandy/Ben Lewis, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Ashley Beck, 22 Barry Davies/Gareth Owen.

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: David Changleng (SRU), Bob Nevans (SRU)
TMO: Iain Ramage (SRU)