Opening day performance “not good enough” says Dan as he calls on players to “stand up” at Franklin’s Gardens next Sunday.
Reflecting on Saturday evening’s Heineken Cup defeat against Leinster at the Liberty Stadium Dan Biggar spoke passionately about the need for the Ospreys to improve on all fronts when they face Northampton Saints in a week’s time.
It’s a clash of the two losing teams from the opening weekend, with the Saints ahead of the Ospreys in the table courtesy of a losing bonus point in Castres, and as he discussed his team’s performance with members of the press shortly after the final whistle, Biggar was his usual straight talking self.
“There are a lot of emotions straight after the final whistle” he said.
“There’s anger, and there’s a lot of disappointment as well. We came into this competition with a lot of hopes, as we always do. We went 6-0 up, have a scrum on their line, then they go 90 metres and they get a try. It just kills the momentum.
“We’ve got a proud record here at home and for us to not get a point out of the game is not good enough. That’s the bottom line. It’s a huge disappointment and there’s a lot of anger in the changing room.
“We should have scored in that corner, we had a two on one, and with the seven points it could have been a different game, who knows? We had the scrum, and like I said, they get a couple of penalties, go 90 metres and all of a sudden there’s seven points for them. That’s a big turnaround that we never recovered from.
“As a team we’ve got to be better than that and we need to smarten up a bit. We couldn’t get field position. We are picking up three points at the minute but we aren’t challenging teams enough and aren’t scoring tries. We know where we went wrong. We’ve got a big, big, test ahead of us next week but it’s important that we front up, and put a real good shift in for ourselves.
“That’s Heineken Cup rugby for you. That’s why Leinster have won three Heineken Cups and are up there as one of the best club teams ever to have played. We are hugely, hugely disappointed, albeit having played a very good side, and there’s lots and lots for us to work on this week. By no means is it going to be an easy training week.
“It’s only one game gone, albeit it it’s a big setback, but we have to go to Northampton and pick up a result. It’s as simple as that. It’s going to be a huge ask, but the boys are hurting and one good thing about this team is when we are hurt we come back and nine times out of ten we put a strong performance in.
“There’s a lot of leaders, a lot of big players who need to stand up, and I’m sure they will come next Sunday.”