The Ospreys' Paul James earns some hard yards at the Liberty Stadium
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Matches: Ospreys 15 - 9 Perpignan

Teams: Ospreys | Perpignan

Ospreys kept their Heineken Cup quarter-final hopes alive with an impressive 16-9 victory over Perpignan in their Pool 3 clash.

Teenage outside-half Dan Biggar kicked 15 points to deliver the lacklustre Ospreys their first win in a scrappy match at the Liberty Stadium.

Despite Perpignan having three players sin-binned the Ospreys spurned a host of try opportunities to make heavy weather of opening their account in the competition. They have now failed to score a try in 160 minutes of European rugby after going down 12-6 at Leicester.

The news before the match was Gavin Henson having his two-match ban for missing training lifted by the Ospreys to answer an injury crisis. Henson was included on the replacements' bench after James Hook (back spasm) was added to a growing injury list behind the scrum which included Rhodri Wells, Nikki Walker, Sonny Parker, Gareth Owen, Mike Phillips and Jamie Nutbrown.

The problems meant Wales Under-20 pair Dan Biggar and Rhys Webb were paired at half-back. Perpignan were also ravaged by injury with France centre David Marty one of nearly a dozen enforced absences.

But the former competition finalists had much the better of the first half, leading 9-6 at the break, despite having two players Adrien Plante (dangerous tackle) and Jean-Pierre Perez (ball-killing) sin-binned. They also lost outside-half David Mele after just 11 minutes due to injury.

The Ospreys kicked poorly out of hand and dropped ball as Perpignan took a 6-0 lead after 19 minutes through the boot of full-back Jerome Porical. The home side levelled matters on 29 minutes with two penalties for teenager Biggar.

The second Biggar penalty came after the Ospreys had a possible try ruled out by the television match official after Tommy Bowe chased a ball over the line after a neat kick through by Shane Williams. But the Ospreys were lucky to escape with any serious censure when Perpignan hooker Marius Tincu appeared to be floored by a punch.

Perpignan had some justice when Porical gave the French outfit the lead with his third penalty, but the Ospreys should have had a try in the dying minutes when Perpignan were down to 14 men - 13 for two minutes. The Ospreys had four men free on the left-hand side but the Welsh region preferred to keep it tight.

At the start of the half Porical was wide with a fourth penalty attempt and then the Ospreys saw two try chances go begging. First, hooker Huw Bennett ignored two men outside him to spurn a golden chance before Webb actually crossed but the score was ruled out by referee Wayne Barnes for crossing.

The Ospreys also saw Filo Tiatia go over but again the try was disallowed as the referee had already blown up from a scrum. The Ospreys had to settle for a third Biggar penalty goal as they went level at 9-9 on 56 minutes.

Perpignan had their best try-scoring chance of the match when centre Christophe Manas broke through midfield and fed Plante, but he knocked on 15 metres short. It took the Ospreys until the 63rd minute to take the lead with a fourth Biggar penalty.

And after replacement lock Guillaume Vilaceca became the third Frenchman to see yellow, Biggar made it 15-9 with his fifth successful kick. The Ospreys limped over the injury line but it was a far from satisfactory victory.

Ospreys: Byrne, Vaughton, Bowe, A. Bishop, Williams, Biggar, Webb, James, Bennett, A. Jones, Wyn-Jones, Evans, R. Jones, Holah, Tiatia.

Replacements: D. Jones for James (53), Hibbard for Bennett (72), Gough for Wyn-Jones (69), Smith for R. Jones (80).

Not Used: Lloyd, D. Bishop, Henson.

Perpignan: Porical, Plante, Sid, Manas, Candelon, Mele, Cusiter, Freshwater, Tincu, Mas, Olibeau, Alvarez, Perez, Britz, Chouly.

Replacements: Durand for Mele (11), Guirado for Freshwater (55), Pulu for Tincu (55), Guiry for Olibeau (59), Vilaceca for Alvarez (55), Vaki for Perez (69).

Not Used: Burger.

Sin Bin: Plante (25), Perez (33), Vilaceca (72).

Att: 10,761

Ref: Wayne Barnes (England)

Man of the Match: Filo Tiatia (Ospreys)