Reflecting on Saturday night's defeat at the hands of Northampton Saints, Steve Tandy said that the effort and endeavour of his young team had made him a very proud coach.
All the effort and endeavour may have failed to secure even a bonus point for the Ospreys, but there was no hiding his delight at the way an inexperienced squad had risen to the challenge laid down by a physical Saints team that thrived on the forward battle.
“It was a big effort from everybody tonight” he insisted.
“Obviously I’m disappointed with the scoreboard but all in all, I thought there were some real top drawer performances out there. We showed a lot of courage, great effort, and a lot of good skills at times as well. The young boys have really stepped up tonight which is really pleasing.
“We were playing a team that is renowned for it’s forward power but we really fronted up. We conceded a couple of tries that we’ll have to look back on during the week, that we will be unhappy about conceding I think, but I don’t think any one will disagree that it’s been a good night for us in terms of our development.
“We’ve found out a lot about our players, and we’ve discovered a lot about their strength of character, particularly after the way they bounced back from the disappointment last weekend to really push Northampton all the way. It’s been a great experience for a lot of young players.
“When we saw the Northampton team that was named we thought it was great, to have these players, with their reputations, coming down to Bridgend, and the exposure our young boys would get. It’s fantastic.
“Bridgend is a big part of our region, the Brewery Field is a great home for us in the LV= Cup. There were a lot of Bridgend boys playing tonight, which made it even better, and it meant a lot to the local supporters here who could identify with us. They’ll be really pleased.
“There’s a lot of standout performances, Matthew Morgan did really well, and the team was led from the front by Tom Smith who’s been terrific over the last fortnight. Obviously we’d have liked to have earned more ball, but I think the effort and the enthusiasm of the boys was very encouraging, they took the fight right to Northampton. I’m very proud of the boys, but still disappointed at the loss because we can’t be happy ever losing a game in an Ospreys shirt.”