The Ospreys kept their play-off hopes alive when they secured a 43-32 bonus-point win over Northampton at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.
In a topsy-turvy match filled with plenty of drama, the Ospreys led 43-8 after 60 minutes before Northampton launched a stunning fightback in the final quarter.
The Welsh region held a 17-3 lead at half-time thanks largely to well-taken tries from Dan Evans and Tom Habberfield with the Saints' only points of the half coming via a Stephen Myler penalty.
The Ospreys continued to dominate after the interval and Evans, Jeff Hassler (2) and Kieron Fonotia scored further tries although Saints also did their bit to make this the entertaining spectacle that it was and were rewarded with tries from Dylan Hartley, Nic Groom, Rob Horne, Ahsee Tuala and Harry Mallinder.
The match took a nasty turn in its latter stages, however, when Hanno Dirksen received a yellow card for a shoulder charge on Ben Foden shortly after Mallinder and Rob McCusker were sent to the sin bin for an off-the-ball incident.
Initially, both sides battled to get going and we had to wait until the 17th minute for the opening points when Myler slotted his penalty after coming on as a replacement 10 minutes earlier for Piers Francis who failed a Head Injury Assessment.
The visitors were dealt a blow a minute later when Hassler was yellow carded for a high tackle on Tuala after referee Alexandre Ruiz had just issued a team warning to the Ospreys for continuous illegal hits in contact.
Saints could not score any points during Hassler's spell on the sidelines though although the visitors drew level in the 21st minute courtesy of a Sam Davies penalty.
Two minutes after Hassler's return, Evans ran onto a well-timed pass from Davies before crossing for the opening try. And just before half-time, Hassler made up for his earlier indiscretion when he made a superb line break before offloading to Habberfield, who scored under the posts.
The Welsh region thought they had extended their lead when, two minutes after the restart when Alun Wyn Jones gathered a poor pass from Mallinder before showing a superb turn of speed to outsprint the cover and dotting down. His effort was disallowed, however, as television replays revealed that Davies had strayed offside in the build-up before putting pressure on Mallinder.
The Ospreys put that disappointment behind them and were leading 31-3 by the 50th minute after Hassler and Fonotia had also crossed the whitewash. Saints needed a miracle to get back into this match and they narrowed the gap in the 53rd minute when Hartley dotted down off the back of a lineout drive.
The Saints struck back with further tries from Evans and Hassler and with the game in the bag, they seemed to relax in the final quarter which allowed Saints to launch a late comeback.
First, Groom broke through a tackle from Habberfield before scoring in the 64th minute and three minutes later, Horne also got onto the scoresheet when he crossed for his side's third try.
Saints were far from done though and in the 69th minute Mallinder turned provider when he threw a well-timed pass to Tuala before he crossed the whitewash himself eight minutes before the end after Saints launched a counter-attack from inside his own half.
He was sent to the sin bin immediately after that, along with McCusker, after the duo were involved in some pushing and shoving when Mallinder crossed the whitewash.
That was the last time points would be scored but the match took a nasty turn when Dirksen saw red for his no arms challenge on Ben Foden two minutes before the end.
The scorers:
For Northampton:
Tries: Hartley, Groom, Horne, Tuala, Mallinder
Cons: Mallinder 2
Pen: Myler
Yellow Card: Mallinder
For Ospreys:
Tries: Evans 2, Habberfield, Hassler 2, Fonotia
Cons: Davies 5
Pen: Davies
Yellow Cards: Hassler, McCusker
Red Card: Dirksen
Northampton: 15 Harry Mallinder, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Piers Francis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 JP Estelles
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Jeff Hassler, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 James King, 7 Olly Cracknell, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Rowan Jenkins, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Rob McCusker, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Ben John
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Laurent Cardona (France)
TMO: Éric Briquet Campin (France)
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