AWJ enjoys 'special' day

As he reflected on his first title success as a captain, Alun Wyn Jones said the win was a reward for his team's never say die attitude.

Speaking to the press after the final whistle, the big second row described the win as ‘special’, before dedicating the victory to Mike Phippen, Chairman of the Ospreys Supporters Club, who missed the trip after being hospitalised on Friday.

“It was tough, but I think to win a title like that, you’d prefer that to an easy game any day” said Jones.

 “It was special. It probably wasn’t as complete as the Munster performance. The first 30 minutes was probably a bit of a hangover from not playing last weekend, it was the same when we played Aironi on the final day of the season, but we said to each other at half time, just keep going. Nothing technical, no major analysis, just keep going.

“When Ryan was captain he said that finals are either lost or won on one mistake, one error, or it’s about the team that keeps going. With all due respect to Leinster, they didn’t give up and they kept going, they turned us over at the end and almost forced that score, but we didn’t give up, we kept going.

“At the end it was déjà vu from our game here in March, Dan kicking us to victory. He didn’t use the post this time, thankfully, but it was typical Dan. He does deserve a special mention, especially for the form he’s shown the last few months of the season. He’s taken some flak, which wasn’t fair at all for a player of his age, but he’s shown what a great player he is and he’s a credit to the Ospreys.

“Our fans were brilliant today, and it was great to reward them. Ospreys Supporters Club deserve a mention for what they did to get people over here, but a special mention for Mike the Chairman, he was hospitalised over the weekend and couldn’t be here. This win is dedicated to the fans and especially to him. I hope he enjoyed and it didn’t upset his blood pressure too much!”