Ospreys secured their place in the European Challenge Cup quarter finals with a 23-15 win over Sale at Bridgend’s Brewery field.

Tries from Morgan Morris, Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams had put the home side 20-3 up but they had to withstand a late fight back with the visitors scoring through former England u20s and now Scotland Six Nations squad member Aaron Reed and England international Ben Curry.

Storm Kathleen had threatened horrendous rain but the rain mostly abated half an hour before kick-off, with occasional showers.

Sale made 11 changes to the side which hammered Exeter 41-5 in the Premiership last week, whilst Rob du Preez moved in from outside centre to fly-half due to England fly-half George Ford being rested.

Ospreys in contrast made just three, all-enforced with Rhys Davies injured in last weekend’s 36-21 win over the Lions along with Sam Parry who was a late withdrawal while Evardi Boshoff was cup-tied from his time with the Cheetahs as Harri Deaves, Lewis Lloyd and Kieran Williams came in.

Sale began on the front foot, former Osprey Tom O’Flaherty regaining the kick off before Rob du Preez’s cross field kick found Reed and despite his offload going forward Sale won a penalty at the scrum and duly kicked to the corner.

Following brilliant defence from Adam Beard at the maul, Sale were repelled with Raffi Quirke’s kick through for du Preez dabbed down in goal by Owen Watkin.

However, TMO Thomas Charabas deemed that Gareth Thomas had obstructed du Preez in getting to the ball with referee Mathieu Raynal giving the Sale fly-half the simplest of kicks in front of the posts which he duly took to give Sale a three-point lead.

From the restart, Owen Williams’ kick went straight into touch, but the Ospreys pack won a penalty at the resulting scrum giving the fly-half an opportunity from just inside his own half, but his kick came up short.

Sale were the dominant side early on and when Telusa Veaninu beat Luke Morgan on the outside a try seemed inevitable but Reed took contact instead of feeding fellow wing O’Flaherty on his inside.

The visitors did get a penalty however, but after Agustin Creevy had tapped from five metres out a combination of Adam Beard, Morris and Justin Tipuric did brilliantly to hold up second row Ben Bamber over the line.

The visitors’ handling seemed to defy the weather, successfully finding the edge, particularly down Reed’s wing whilst the kicking of du Preez and half back partner Rafi Quirke continuously pinned the home side in their own 22 and put pressure on the throwing of young hooker Lewis Lloyd.

One area the home side were getting the upper hand was the scrum, and after the third penalty in a row in that area Tipuric again asked his fly-half to go for the posts and from 10 yards closer than his previous effort Williams’ kick sailed through to level the scores.

Having survived Sale’s early onslaught, the Ospreys would then take the lead. Quirke’s clearing kick was half charged down by Thomas and the ball was recycled with Ospreys going left into midfield before coming back right.

Two brilliant tip-on passes from Owen Williams and then Jack Walsh put Watkin in space and his cut out pass found Morris who showed good pace to beat the cover before cutting inside the despairing dive of Veainu to score in the right corner.

That would be it for the scoring in the first half thanks largely to a brilliant turnover from player of the match Harri Deaves in the final minute.

In the seventh minute of the second half, Ospreys had a second try. After their driving maul was disrupted, Morgan-Williams pulled to the blindside finding Giles with a miss-pass who exchanged passes with Owen Williams before scoring in the corner.

Giles and Ospreys were perhaps fortunate that his first pass inside to Williams wasn’t reviewed as it seemed forward, but the home fans at the Brewery Field certainly didn’t mind.

Williams missed his third kick of the day, but almost immediately he’d have another chance. Sale retained the restart and looked to spread the ball into midfield but Rob du Preez’s pass was picked off by Morgan-Williams with the scrum-half streaking in unopposed from his own 10 metre line to score under the posts.

Sale did get a try in return though with a bouncing ball in midfield picked up by Reed who showed a great turn of pace to round Walsh and dive in in the corner for a deserved try.

With a little more than 10 minutes remaining Sale captain Curry went over from the back of a driving maul and was deemed to have enough downward pressure to set up a grandstand finish.

Owen Williams missed with a penalty inside the final seven minutes which would have sealed the victory but corrected the error with less than two minutes remaining and ensure a quarter final against Gloucester at Kingsholm in a weeks time.

Ospreys: (8) 23  Tries: Morris, Giles, Morgan-Williams. Con: O. Williams. Pens: O. Williamsx2

Sale: (3) 15 Tries: Reed, Curry. Con: R. du Preez. Pen: R. du Preez.

Ospreys: Walsh; Morgan, K. Williams, Watkin, Giles (Nagy 77mins); O. Williams, Morgan-Williams (Davies 56mins); Thomas (Smith 53mins), Lloyd (Moore 79mins), Botha (Henry 64mins), Ratti, Beard, Deaves (Morse 64mins), Tipuric, Morris.

Sale: Veainu (Doherty 63mins); Reed, James, Ma’asi-White, O’Flaherty; R. du Preez, Quirke (Thomas 56mins); Harrison (McIntyre 51mins), Creevy (Taylor 51mins), Opoku-Forjour (Harper 51mins), Bamber (Ellis 46mins), Andrews (Bamber 56mins), Curry, Dugdale, J-L du Preez.