Preventing London Irish from picking up a bonus point was the most pleasing aspect of the win says Ospreys Forwards Coach.
Speaking to the assembled media straight after the final whistle, Jonathan Humphreys said:
“We are pretty satisfied. To get a home win and Irish get nothing, we’d have settled for that before the game. I thought we improved from last week in how we closed the game out. We were very smart in terms of that.
“We were physical and it was great to see us score some nice tries. We are a team, it just takes us a little while to come back together and click. Generally it sort of comes around Europe time.
“Our defence is outstanding at the moment. It’s something that these boys enjoy doing. We are going in the right direction there, we’re not leaking points.
“I always enjoy watching Shane play, that’s why he’s a world player of the year, that’s why he’s such a special talent. He scores the most ridiculous tries that nobody else scores so hats off to him.
“Ryan Jones was outstanding. We were very confident that he would give us what he did. He gives us huge numbers around the field, he’s a great line-out forward and our scrum didn’t suffer for him being on there. We feel at the Ospreys that it’s a back-five position.
“We’ve played Jonathan Thomas at lock, Ryan’s gone to lock, Alun Wyn has played at six for us, the way the game is going it’s about big, athletic men who play in the back five and we are quite happy mixing and matching as it fits.
“It’s a very fast game at the moment and I think when the new law interpretations bed in it’s going to get faster. If you saw the way the Super 14 was played, that’s the way it’s going. I’ve always believed that it’s about back five forwards; it’s not about locks. We always encourage the new breed of player coming through in that position, people like James King, to play back row and second row.
“Preventing the bonus point is massively important. We’re only two games in here though, we’ve got to go to Irish, we’ve got to go to Munster, it’s going to be tough all the way through. We’re pretty experienced now, we know what’s around the corner.
“Dan was just having spasms through the neck. He’s fine, he’s just gutted he wasn’t kicking points at the end. I thought it was a very mature performance from Dan. He missed his first kick and then he nails one from his own half. It’s just a real testament to his character, that’s why he’s so important to us.
“James stepped up then when he went off and that’s the beauty of having the pair of them. It’s a 10, 12 combination, and Hooky, when he has to, steps into the position and kicks goals. We’re very fortunate to have the pair of them.
“The last ten minutes we could have gone all out looking for tries for the bonus point but at the front of our mind was that these are a quality side, they are top of the Premiership. We had a sin bin with Jerry, and I thought we played those last few minutes very maturely. We didn’t panic or rush, which we have in the past, and we closed the game out to get what we wanted.”