Alun Wyn Jones reflects on a frustrating evening at the Liberty Stadium.
Speaking to the media after the Ospreys had been held to a 21-21 draw by Cardiff Blues, skipper Jones said he had mixed feeling about the result.
“We’re pleased to get something out of it, disappointed we didn’t get the win” was his post-match view.
“Out there, it felt as though we were a score away from breaking them, but it was a typical derby game. Yes, we’re disappointed but I suppose as a neutral you’d probably say that it was a fair reflection of the game.
“It was about solid defences I suppose, on the whole, but there were a few decisions from us that we’ll probably rue when we look over the game in the week. I think we’ll be disappointed when we’ve picked and gone when we had numbers a few times. If you look, we’re going into 15 metres, we’re doing a few quick rucks and when you stand up you can see eight or ten pink jerseys in the channel and we’re still trying to pick and go. Sometimes you’ve got to have your heads up and scan for the numbers.
“I’ve just said in the changing room that it wasn’t a lack of application, everybody was present for the whole 80, it was just the decision making at the critical times in their 22.
“Nothing’s changed for us with this result, we need to win all our remaining games and that’s the aim in order to cement that top four place. We’re in third place now and we definitely need the points to freeze our place up there. We’re very conscious of that, but we need to take one game at a time now, the Dragons, Munster at home, and Aironi away.
“The Dragons beat us here and it’s always very difficult up there, it’ll be the fourth time that we’ve played Munster this season, and Aironi got their first win last time out, it’s going to be tough. We have to take one game at a time and see where we go.
“There’s two ways you can be as a player this time of the year, you can be tentative or you can go out there and try and get the points, maximise your chances. I thought we were very close to doing that today, but the last pass, the last decision, too many times it wasn’t the correct one.
“It’s frustrating from that point of view but we can’t be tentative, we’ve got to go out there and keep trusting ourselves.”