OSPREYS: ‘We know we’re capable’: Jones on what the Ospreys must improve in South Africa

Mark Jones said the Ospreys let the Sharks off the hook in the first half of their 41-24 defeat in Durban, but praised the fight that earned a bonus point from their United Rugby Championship opener.

The head coach pointed to basic errors behind two of the three tries the Ospreys conceded before the break.

“There are some clear, obvious things we can improve in our own accuracy. Two out of the three tries in the first half were pretty disappointing,” he said.

“It’s the basics of the game, tackle technique and some effort stuff around that. Those things are pretty easily fixed.”

‘They got a bit more excited than we did’

Jones felt the difference in that period was not the error count but what each side did with it.

“Both teams made errors, they actually made more errors than us, but they got a little bit more excited than we did and capitalised,” he said.

“We probably just took a breath and decided to maybe have a little rest in those moments where we needed to go through the gears.”

He was clearer still about where the damage came from.

“There was a lot of pressure from the Sharks, but there was also a lot of unforced stuff from us. The good thing is we can control that, and we can improve the unforced stuff,” he said.

Fight in the second half

There was plenty Jones liked after the break, four tries earning the bonus point, with Liam Wright scoring on his competitive debut.

“I saw some real fight in the second half to get the four tries. To get a point on the road is important for us moving forward, particularly away in South Africa,” he said.

“It is few and far between when you get results over here, although we have had them in the past at the Stormers and at the Lions. We know we’re capable, we just need to improve our quality if we want to get four or five points out of the games.”

The scrum pleased him, and so did the work at the breakdown.

“We felt our scrum was becoming more and more of a weapon towards the end of the half. A lot of the scraps off the errors, we were collecting the loose balls, which was good, because we know the Sharks are so dangerous off those turnovers,” he said.

“We never really got the speed of ball we needed to exploit the space. Our first try was probably the only real time we got through that phase play that we hoped would unlock the Sharks’ very aggressive defence.”

Learning the tight ones

Jones has set the play-offs as the season’s target, and sees games like this as where that is won and lost.

“We’ve been in the play-offs before, a couple of seasons ago, and we know what that took. We did it in the 75th minute of the last game of the URC rounds, so we know it goes down to the wire a lot of the time,” he said.

“It was tight today, a one-score game at one point, and we just need to learn in those moments how to stay there, be patient and take our moments.

“We’re a relatively young team. The more times we’re exposed to those games where it’s tight, the more we get our learnings from it, understanding whether to stay disciplined and error-free when you’re defending, or when to push and force the game when you’ve got the ball. We probably didn’t get that balance right today.”

The Ospreys continue their South African tour against the Emirates Lions at Ellis Park next Saturday (12.45pm).

“There is some progress for us, and I think we should be confident going up to the Lions,” Jones said.

Author

Richard Bond

Swansea-based sports journalist.
Twitter: @RichBond00
Email: RichardBond@swanseabaynews.com