Australia led 13-6 just before half-time but a lack of discipline cost the visitors and allowed the home side to get back into the match.

The scores were locked at 16-16 with 10 minutes to play but an opportune drop goal from Ospreys' flyhalf Shaun Connor gave the home team a 19-16 lead, and as Australia tried to push for a late try, an errant pass was accepted by Ospreys winger Richard Mustoe, who strolled over for the match-sealing try.

Earlier, veteran flanker George Smith led the young second-string Australian side out on the park on a chilly night in Swansea and it was the locals who found the early exchanges to their liking, Connor potting a penalty goal to give his side a 3-0 lead.

A neck injury to Wallabies loose forward Hugh McMeniman, who has just returned to international duties after spending most of 2006 on the sidelines due to shoulder surgery, saw him carried off on a stretcher and stopped the game for 10 minutes. However, he was cleared of serious injury but was still taken to the hospital for precautionary X-rays.

When the match resumed, the Australians found their rhythm with Adam Ashley-Cooper scoring a lovely try after fullback Cameron Shepherd had made the initial break on the halfway and sent a deft inside ball to the Brumbies flyer.

Shepherd and Connor exchanged penalties before two Australian players were sin-binned, lock James Horwill for killing the ball and prop Guy Shepherdson for stamping.

The Ospreys responded with hooker Barry Williams driving over from close range for a try, Connor's conversion levelling the scores.

The second half was a messy affair with errors punctuating the opening 20 minutes of the second stanza before Shepherd slotted a penalty in the 59th minute to give Australia a 16-13 lead.

But a 70th-minute penalty from Connor and a field goal three minutes later put the tourists under pressure before they imploded, throwing the intercept pass inside their own 22 and slipping to an eight-point defeat.

Ospreys 24
Tries: Williams, Musote
Conversions: Connor
Penalties: Connor (3)
Drop-goal: Connor
Australia 16
Tries: Ashley-Cooper
Conversions: Shepherd
Penalties: Shepherd (3)

Sportal