The Ospreys faced Munster at the Swansea.com stadium on Friday night in a fixture which will go a long way to deciding both sides top four ambitions.

The home side could have leapfrogged their Irish opponents with a bonus point win but sadly it wasn’t to be as the away side won 17-27.

A try within from three Shane Daly and two interceptions from Sean O’Brien gave the Munstermen a 19-point lead inside the first 20 minutes, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Ospreys responded with a try either side of half-time to reduce the deficit through Keelan Giles and Sam Parry but RG Snyman’s bonus point score consigned the Ospreys to consecutive defeats for the first time since November.

The Ospreys came again within the final 10 minutes, but Sportin Wales co-founder Alex Cuthbert’s score proved to be little more than a consolation.

The game couldn’t have started worse for the home side with Munster taking the lead following a simple move off a maul, catching the Ospreys narrow in defence, with Mike Haley, on his 100^th appearance for the region feeding Daly to dive in in the corner.

It wasn’t the ideal start to get a sparce Swansea.com stadium crowd going, and things got worse moments later as, barely a minute after the restart, Owen Williams’ searching pass was intercepted by O’Brien who ran in from his own 10 metre line, fending off Giles to score in the opposite corner.

Ospreys soon thought they might have a try of their own, with Morgan Morris breaking off the back of a dominant scrum and on penalty advantage he grubber kicked ahead only for Munster scrumhalf Craig Casey to beat Giles to the ball in-goal.

The Ospreys looked much better when going direct, big carries from James Ratti and Sam Parry gained significant yardage but once again when they looked for width the move died down with a series of knock-ons or good Munster defence.

Munster would soon grab a third, again from an Ospreys error.

This time Kieran Williams would be the one picked off by O’Brien as his pass was intercepted by the Munster right wing who kicked ahead. Ospreys were unable to deal with the ball in their dead ball area with Owen Willians kicking the ball into O’Brien’s head before the Munsterman dived on it for his second score.

It would have been comical were it not for the situation the home side now found themselves in. 19-0 down, only 18 minutes played.

On the back of scrum penalties, the home side were dominating in the scrum and ahead in both territory and possession statistics but the performance was rather reminiscent of their result in Edinburgh three weeks okay, their opponents clinical, the Ospreys…less so.

Things went from bad to worse for the Ospreys as prop Nicky Smith was forced off just after the half hour and was replaced by Rhys Henry, but suddenly the Ospreys broke through and brilliantly so.

Evardi Boschoff did brilliantly to get his arm free and his chicken wing offload found Kieran Williams who had the composure to draw Haley before putting Giles in the corner. Owen Williams’ touchline conversion clipped the inside of the left post but stayed out.

However, soon after, the Ospreys were down to 14. After John Hodnett’s bust through the centre Ospreys repeatedly transgressed under their own posts and when Justin Tipuric was adjudged for using his hands on the floor, he received a yellow card with barely a minute left in the half.

Owen Williams was enduring a difficult night at the Swansea.com bar some pinpoint kicking to the corner.

On the umpteenth attempt, the Ospreys finally had a reward, back to 15 with the return of Tipuric, the pack surged over with Parry the beneficiary, Williams kicked the conversion to bring the home side within a converted score.

Just as after the Ospreys’ first try the visitors were reinvigorated, and after a sustained period of pressure South African World Cup winner Snyman crashed over from short range, with Carberry knocking over a penalty to seal the game soon after.

Nothing seemed to be working for the Ospreys, Morgan Morris looked destined for the tryline from short-range following a Tipuric tip-on but he knocked on.

Ospreys gained their consolation in the final 10 minutes was the returning Owen Watkin offloaded brilliantly to Jack Walsh and a couple of phases later Cuthbert crashed over in the corner.

The Welsh winger looked certain to score a second within the final minute but with the tryline beckoning after a break from substitute scrum half Cameron Jones, he pulled up with an injury to his hamstring.

Owen Williams then kicked the ball dead from the resulting penalty, leaving the Ospreys pointless from a largely self-inflicted loss.

They will now be left to worry on the long-term fitness of Cuthbert, Iestyn Hopkins and Nicky Smith who all departed the fray with injuries.

Ospreys: Hopkins (Walsh HT); Cuthbert, Boshoff (Watkin 67), K. Williams, Giles; O. Williams, Morgan-Williams (Jones 76); Smith (Henry 31), Parry, (Lloyd 76) Botha (Phillips 58), Ratti, Davies (Sutton 74), Rudolph (Deaves 51), Tipuric (Yellow card 39), Morris.

Munster: Haley; O’Brien, Frisch, R Scannell (Clarke 74), Daly; Carbery (Butler 71), Casey (Coughlan 71); Wycherley (Loughman 43), N Scannell (Clarke 58), Ryan (Archer 58), Ahern, Snyman (O’Donoghue 58), Hodnett (Quinn 63), Kendellen, Coombes.

ATT. 3,897