Skipper Spratt urges team-mates to keep their feet on the ground as Ospreys prepare to face PRO12 leaders at the Liberty Stadium this Sunday.
Speaking straight after last weekend’s record breaking win over Treviso, the stand-in captain expressed his pleasure at the manner of the performance while reminding the rest of the squad that Munster, who will travel to Wales on the back of three big wins on the bound at home, will provide a much sterner challenge than the Italians did.
Asked whether he was delighted with his team after the 75-7 thrashing, Spratt commented:
“I wouldn’t say we’re excited or delighted about it. More pleased than anything really.
“We’ve had a good week training, a good couple of weeks with the win against Sale and we managed to grind out a point against Ulster. We were a bit disappointed with that, but we’ve put some things right in the week and luckily it came to fruition.
“It was a team effort, from 1 to 23. There were people on the bench who came on and made a big impact, as well as the boys who came back from Wales. They all put in good performances and shone. I think from 1-23, the forwards managed to grind things out up front, our scrum and line out were very positive, and gave a nice platform for the backs to run in some tries.
“Treviso are not an easy team to play against. We put them to the sword in the second half but in all fairness that came from the hard work up front, getting us on the front foot. I think we left one or two tries out there in the first half which was disappointing and we’ll have to look at, but we can take a lot of positives out of the attacking style of rugby we’ve tried playing, not only today but in the last few games gone by.
“It is difficult during this period, but it gives boys opportunities. We’ve seen that the last few weeks, the positive attitude we’ve taken into attack. We’ve got some great open field runners, so we were happy with the intent. We need to rein things in, and tighten things up looking forward to the next few games. We’ve got a very big game next Sunday against Munster at home, a completely different team to what Treviso are, and then a very difficult game away to Edinburgh. We’ve got a few things to work on.
“Like we saw out in Ulster last week, whatever team they put out will be a competitive one, a strong one. That’s what we thrive on, it’s a great opportunity for the young ones in this team to go out and express themselves.
“A lot can change in a couple of weeks in this league. It’s extremely competitive, teams at the bottom can turn over teams at the top so we won’t take anything for granted. What Treviso offered today will be completely different to what Munster will bring here next week. We’ll take the positives from this, naturally, and be happy with it, but there are little things we’ll have to work on through the week and strengthen.
“This is an especially tough period but all the points we get now, or don’t get, will have an effect when the play-offs come around at the end of the season.”
Click here to watch all 11 tries from the record-breaking win over Treviso on Sunday.