Gibbes wants improvements ahead of Blues clash

“We can’t get carried away with ourselves just because of the bonus point” says Forward Coach Gibbes after victory in Italy edges Ospreys closer to the play-offs.

The Ospreys may have secured a maximum five point haul in Friday night’s win over Treviso thanks to a late rally with two tries in the last two minutes, but the players have been challenged to produce an improved performance next time out, against Cardiff Blues on Judgement Day in a fortnight.

Trailing by two points with 15 minutes to play, a gritty, never say die performance in adversity ensured that the Ospreys remain on course for a place in the end of season play-offs. However, Forwards Coach Chris Gibbes insisted that there was no cause to celebrate just yet, acknowledging that despite the end result, the performance fell short of the standards expected.

“I’m really pleased that we are coming away from here with five points” said Gibbes.

“Treviso are a very dangerous side when you play them here as the Blues found out a couple of months back. They’ve pushed Leinster and Ulster all the way this season, so we have to be happy with the outcome tonight.

“The way that we came together and sorted it out was crucial. We’d dug ourselves into a real hole in the second half, we weren’t playing particularly well and we weren’t getting enough of the ball to do anything so it was a pretty difficult situation for us. That allowed the referee to have far too much influence on the game and we didn’t need to be in that position.

“Playing 20 minutes a man short obviously made it difficult for us, but it drew a positive reaction and we got what we came for in the end.

“We can’t get carried away with ourselves just because of the bonus point though. We can be so much better than we saw tonight, we know that we have to be better. On another night we wouldn’t have got away with it. If we perform to our capability then we know we are a decent team but we were some way off our capability tonight.

“Everybody knows that we need to improve on this performance. We’ve got two weeks now before the Blues game so we’ll need to start all over again in training this week. 

“It’s important that we learn from this tonight and bank the experience. It’s going to be some occasion at the Millennium Stadium in two weeks and it’s vital that we back up the wins in the last three games with a quality performance to keep the momentum with us. The Blues will be up for it, it’s a derby match with a huge crowd, so we can’t get distracted. Our focus, as always, will have to be on controlling what we can and concentrating on the little things that add up to a good performance. Get that right and the result should come.”