Mark Jones has set the play-offs as the target for the Ospreys this season, and believes the margins that cost them last year are within his side’s control.
The region opens its United Rugby Championship campaign against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday, and the head coach is clear about where he wants it to end.
“We want to be in play-off rugby. A couple of Welsh teams over the last two or three seasons, ourselves, the Scarlets and Cardiff, have all pushed hard for those honours and got in there, so it’s doable,” he said.
He is under no illusions about how much the bar has risen.
“It’s getting more challenging each year. It used to be nine or ten wins and a few bonus points, but that went up a gear or two last year,” Jones said. “I think it was 54 or 55 points last year to get in, where it’s normally 49 to 50, so the target is stretched all the time. But I think we’re very capable of doing that.”
The fine margins that cost them
Jones pointed to a set of numbers that explain why last season ended without knockout rugby despite performances he was proud of.
“I think we had five losses last year that were within a score, two of them were draws, and then we had ten games where we scored three tries and didn’t get the fourth, so we weren’t a million miles away,” he said.
“That’s a challenge for us this year, to take the learnings from last year and why we didn’t get across the line in some of those games. There was a lot going on off the field as well.”
There was European disappointment too.
“I was really proud of the performances we put in last year, but ultimately we were disappointed that we didn’t get into the knockouts,” he said. “We also had a tight one out in Ulster in Europe, which we’d like to have got through to what would have been the quarter-finals. It was disappointing, but we didn’t quite get to where we wanted to be.
“Knockout rugby is something we definitely would like to be pushing for when we get the other side of Christmas. We want to put ourselves in a position to be in a hunt for that.”
‘Games come down to moments’
Jones believes the experience in his squad is what turns those close games, naming the players he leans on.
“Whether that’s the Morgan Morrises that have been around for many years, or the Sam Parrys, these guys have been consistent performers for a number of years. Bringing people like Ross back last year has added a physical, aggressive element to our game, and people like James Ratti have been absolute stalwarts,” he said.
“Games come down to moments sometimes, and you need an X-factor moment from a player either side of the ball, and it can have a big impact on results.
“We’ve got good guys in the building. The challenge for us as coaches is to try and build a team out of the pieces. It’s a big puzzle and we’ve got to make sure it all joins together and everybody gets the cohesion bit.
“Ultimately you can have good players, but you’ve got to get them together as a group, all aligned and all caring about the same thing, caring about each other and working hard for each other. If we do that, we’ve got a great chance of being really competitive.”
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OSPREYS: ‘We lost some leadership’: why Jones turned to Australia after Lake and Morgan left
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OSPREYS: Jones praises squad for coping with limbo as he awaits clarity on the region’s future
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