The Ospreys' physical edge made the vital difference as they secured victory over the Scarlets on Friday evening according to Forwards Coach Jonathan Humphreys.
With the game all square going into the final 10 minutes tries from Ryan Jones and Hanno Dirksen helped the region to the four points, and speaking to the press post-match, Humphreys said that he was pleased to see the players producing that missing ingredient, but was quick to warn that there is still plenty of work to be done.
“There were a lot of games last year, especially at the end of the year, where we won in the last 20 minutes” he said.
“People remember Shane’s game against the Dragons, but the reality is it was close until five minutes to go when we scored two tries. It’s about getting physical with people and, hopefully, that telling with 10, 15 minutes to go. It was nice to see us do that tonight.
“We never felt we were the worst team in the world after losing our first three games. There were a couple of things that didn’t go our way, but we got a bit more physical today than we did in those first three games. I’m happy that we had that physical edge about us, happy that we took some opportunities when they presented themselves, but we don’t feel that we are perfect at the moment. We just feel that we ground out a good win against a good team.
“We’ve got a group of boys who enjoy these type of games. We were happy with the process tonight, happy with the way we want about our business. It wasn’t a flashy win by any means but it was a good, solid win and hopefully we can build from it.
“We’ve had a decent performance but let’s be clear about it, there’s been no downs about the place because we’d lost a few games. The fact is we are keeping to a process, we know where we want to get to, and we said that before the game. We’re not there yet but hopefully over the next two weeks we can get to where we need to get to.”
Crucially the Ospreys enjoyed the upper hand in the scrum, Duncan Jones taking the man of the match award as six penalties went against the Scarlets in that area, and Humphreys was understandably pleased with that aspect of the game, saying:
“We do a bit of work on our scrum. We got Jarvy in a couple of years ago and it’s great to see him come through now. He’s a very able player, he’s a player I liked a couple of years ago at Bath and he’s worked hard to develop. It’s great to see him playing well.
“It’s an area that was a weapon for us last year. We lost Paul but we’ve got two fantastic loose heads in Duncan and Ryan. We need to maintain that strength, we need to ensure that we are as strong with or without Adam. That’s our intent and it was a decent enough performance in that area. Yes, we dropped off in a few scrums but overall the process was much better."