Johnson disappointed with Ospreys despite win

"We are top of the league tonight, but that certainly wasn't a top of the league performance" says Director of Coaching.

Speaking to the media after the narrow win over Connacht at the Liberty Stadium, Scott Johnson made it clear that he was disappointed with the Ospreys performance.

He said:

"It was a poor performance, there's no escaping that, and I've just told them so in the dressing room. We aren't going to try and kid ourselves, we let ourselves down tonight. In many ways, some people just wanted to get through the game and expected to win, and once we'd got the points on the board took their foot off the pedal and were thinking of other things. That's not what we're about.

"Clearly we have had to bring together a team that includes a lot of players who haven't had a lot of game time, some youngsters thrown in there, and with the likes of Ian and Dan, guys who haven't even been with us until very late on in our preparations. Clearly that is going to have an effect on our fluidity out there, but that isn't an excuse for the way that we faded  in the second half. I don't like saying it, but we got too many of the basics wrong and that is something I wouldn't expect from an Ospreys squad and that I won't accept. We were also ill disciplined at times which proved costly on the scoreboard, we were our own worst enemy at times. We prepared well for the game, and were looking to build on the good things we saw against Leeds in our last game, but there were areas out there that really disappointed me and that's frustrating as a coach.

"Like I said in the week, there is much to admire about Connacht and I've been into their dressing room after the game to tell them that. We knew that they would come here tonight and make life difficult for us and that is exactly what they did. We've played them twice this season now and we've got two wins, which is what we set out to do, so you've got to be happy with that, even if the performance left a lot to be desired.

"We are top of the league tonight, but that certainly wasn't a top of the league performance, and one thing is for sure, we won't stay there if we play like that again. The reality is, it's a good position to be in when we aren't playing well.  We have to have some harsh words in training this week. I've asked the players to be honest with themselves, and with us, when they review the game, because as a coaching team, we will certainly be honest with them.

"We've got two weeks to go until our next game in Edinburgh and we have to make sure that we go there and perform to the standard that is expected from the Ospreys, because we certainly didn't reach that standard tonight."