Forwards Coach, Chris Gibbes, cut a frustrated figure at the Sportsground in Galway on Saturday night as he reflected on the Ospreys’ defeat to Connacht.
- Gibbes faces questions on the TMO decision not to award Sam Davies try in second half and on Ospreys effort and resilience in adversity
- "Clear and obvious. It's a try" says the Ospreys Forwards Coach
- "We lack clarity and accuracy at crucial times" adds Gibbes
The big talking point after the match was the decision by TMO Jude Quinn to disallow what seemed a legitimate try from Sam Davies after the tackling player, Kieran Marmion, lost hold of the Ospreys outside half and, it appeared, failed to complete the tackle.
Asked for his view on the decision, Gibbes was unequivocal in his answer:
“It’s a try” he insisted.
“Clear and obvious. It’s a try. We’ve come here to score four tries and through an officiating situation, we’ve missed that opportunity to get the fourth try. It’s pretty clear and obvious, but that process is flawed. We’re disappointed with that.”
Nevertheless, despite his obvious disappointment and frustration, Gibbes refused to blame the decision for the Ospreys’ defeat, insisting that they need to look closer to home after failing to hit the standard required despite scoring three tries and pushing the league leaders all the way in a gripping contest.
“It wasn’t a good performance” admitted Gibbes.
“When there are so many missed tackles you are going to come off the wrong side against a pretty good, committed Connacht side.
“It’s a tough place to come and play but the performance wasn’t good enough and we are pretty disappointed about that.”
While members of the Irish media praised the effort and resilience displayed by the visitors, Gibbes was quick to highlight how, at times, they had been the architects of their own downfall. He added:
“We’ve got tons of effort and tons of resilience but we lack clarity and accuracy at crucial times. If you look at the first 10 minutes, we’ve turned the ball over five times. We missed the first kick-off, which we’ve trained all week, and we’ve allowed them in our half straight away.
“They are building pressure, scoring points, and then we stuff the next one up It’s pretty disappointing if I’m honest, we are trailing 14 points and climbing a mountain and the game is only 10 minutes in. You can’t keep giving teams a head start, as we have been, you’ll get caught out in the end.
“You’ve got to look after the ball. You’ve got to get the basics right and we felt that we didn’t give the team the platform that we needed. We’ve come here and despite the huge effort and some good attacking play at times, we’ve made Connacht look awesome. They didn’t have to work for their tries and that’s pretty disappointing. In contrast, we’ve had to work for everything we got and although the effort was very pleasing, that’s not enough if we are going to miss tackles, lose the ball cheaply and not exit properly.
“Connacht did look awesome at times but a lot of that was down to lack of accuracy and stuff from us. They took their opportunities though and all credit to them for that.”
