A first-half brace of tries from winger Luke Morgan and one from hooker Sam Parry had put the away side in the ascendancy at the break 17-7 despite Stormers centre Dan du Plessis scoring midway through the half.
Stormers number eight Evan Roos crossed to once again reduce the home side’s arrears, but colossal all-action flanker Harri Deaves would plow his way through to earn the Ospreys an attacking bonus point in an impressive victory.
In a congested table, the result moves the Ospreys up to seventh place in the standings and level on points with their South African counterparts as the race to gain a play-off placing hots up.
With four rounds of fixtures to go, one point now separates sixth place to 11th in the standings with the Ospreys now very much in the hunt for a top-eight qualification placing.
Next up will be a trip into altitude-effected conditions next weekend in Pretoria to face a Bulls side looking to bounce back from a surprise home defeat to Munster. For Booth, it’s one game at a time with every match treated like a cup final.
“I’m so proud to sit here and talk about a team who has so much resilience. They just have the ability to find a way in difficult moments,” said Booth.
“I think it was a really good reflection on an unbelievable group and the [response to] disappointment of the European exit and the nature of it where we felt we weren’t at our best.
“It was a real challenge emotionally and there been a bit of adversity after a long flight. We’ve had the Tom Botha scenario; a few bits and pieces happen to us and injuries.
“We know that Stormers are an unbelievable team and have such a good record here.
“The brand of rugby they play everyone knows if you don’t kick well, play loosely or if the game gets broken up, they will make you pay.
“They did at times, and we had to find a way to hang in there and win key moments and we did that.”
Booth would praise the performance of his make-shift front-row, in particular prop Rhys Henry.
Without both experienced regular starters Gareth Thomas and Tom Botha, the 25-year-old would put in a performance of maturity his coach would be delighted with.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the guys they performed brilliantly,” continued Booth.
“I thought the front-row were brilliant. Rhys [Henry] did exceptionally well, he has done well whenever we have asked him against difficult opposition.
“With him and Ben Warren we are excited by the potential and they will only get better through the experience. I’m very proud of what he did today.
“I thought Owen Watkin was outstanding today. The performance he put in to shut down what is a very attacking team was great.
“We talked about that every game is a cup final now. I have not looked at other results.
“It’s quite an excited changing room with a lot of emotion kicking around and you have to enjoy these moments because with sport you don’t always take in the good stuff.
“You must enjoy that to give you resilience to take in the bad stuff.
“We will enjoy tonight, freshen up and travel up [to face the Bulls in Pretoria] the best we can, get a few more players back and be excited to try and perform as well as we did tonight.
“We will dust ourselves up but from an availability point-of-view we are looking to have Justin Tipuric, Gareth Thomas and Dewi Lake available for next week.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
