Gloucester moved to the top of Pool 1 following a 43-20 bonus-point triumph over a stubborn Ospreys side in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
The Welsh region fielded a much more inexperienced outfit than their opponents but it did not show in the opening period, despite the Cherry and Whites going 12-0 ahead via Richard Hibbard and Mark Atkinson tries.
Ospreys continued to battle and were rewarded with Alex Jeffries going over to reduce the arrears at the interval.
They then began the second period impressively and were soon level. Reuben Morgan-Williams is a highly-rated young player and it was his individual brilliance that allowed the visitors to remain in the contest.
The scrum-half had been a threat throughout and the hosts did not take heed when the Wales under-20 representative dummied, kicked ahead and touched down.
Luke Price was awry with the conversion but the pivot kicked a penalty seven minutes later as the PRO14 outfit took a 15-12 advantage.
That seemed to irk Gloucester, who simply upped the intensity and scored two quick-fire tries to complete the bonus-point. Firstly, Callum Braley crossed the whitewash before Ollie Thorley finished in the corner after a fine move.
Eventually the home team’s greater experience and quality told and they began to dominate. Henry Trinder scored their fifth try before the visitors saw Morgan Morris and Lloyd Ashley sin-binned.
With the Ospreys down to 13 men in the final 10 minutes, the Cherry and Whites went over twice more through Ben Morgan and Matt Scott, but the Welsh side showed great resilience when Ifan Phillips touched down.
The scorers:
For Gloucester:
Tries: Hibbard, Atkinson, Braley, Thorley, Trinder, Morgan, Scott
Cons: Burns 4
For Ospreys:
Tries: Jeffries, Morgan-Williams, Phillips
Con: Price
Pen: Price
Yellow Cards: Morris, Ashley.
Gloucester: 15 David Halaifonua, 14 Henry Purdy, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ben Morgan 7 Will Safe, 6 Freddie Clarke (c), 5 Mariano Galarza; 4 Ed Slater, 3 Fraser Balmain; 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Cameron Orr
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Callum Allen, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Matt Scott, 23 Tom Hudson
Ospreys: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Callum Carson, 12 James Hook, 11 Jay Baker, 10 Luke Price (c), 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Will Jones, 6 Guy Mercer, 5 Lloyd Ashley, 4 James Ratti, 3 Alex Jeffries, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Ifan Phillips, 17 Rowan Jenkins, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Kieran Martin, 20 Josh Cole, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 23 Dewi Cross
Referee: Adam Leal (England)
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe (England), Philip Waters (England)
TMO: Claire Hodnett (England)
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