Ospreys soar in the snow

The Ospreys moved to the top of the Magners League with a 26-0 whitewash of Cardiff Blues at a snowy Liberty Stadium.

A pair of tries from Nikki Walker in the first half put the hosts on their way to a comprehensive victory over their Welsh rivals on New Year's Day.

Ryan Jones crossed for a third score on 60 minutes but the Ospreys were unable to grab a fourth try that would have sealed them an extra bonus point.

In-form fly-half Dan Biggar landed one conversion, two penalties and a drop goal to finish with a personal haul of 11 points.

In contrast, the Blues, who had come into the game off the back of a 42-13 hammering of Newport Gwent Dragons, failed to muster a point in reply.

It was the visitors who were on top early on before the Ospreys - without injured Wales duo Alun Wyn Jones and James Hook - opened the scoring.

Snap drop

Biggar was successful with a snap drop goal from in front of the posts, though Cardiff could have wiped out the three-point deficit had Ben Blair not pushed a penalty wide of the right upright.

The opening try came right at the end of the opening quarter when Walker crashed over in the left corner, the winger then repeating the trick 11 minutes later.

A penalty from Biggar two minutes after the break extended the Ospreys' lead even further and the Blues must've realised it wasn't going to be their night when a Blair penalty rebounded off the left post.

To make matters even worse, they were reduced to 14 men when tight-head prop Gary Powell was yellow-carded after a collapsed scrum. The sin-binning was compounded by Biggar kicking the penalty, putting his side 19-0 ahead.

When flanker Jones squeezed over in the left corner after an hour, the Ospreys looked certain to cross the try-line again to claim an added bonus.

In the end, though, they just had to settle for handing the Blues their first defeat against a Welsh region this season.