Ospreys skipper Ryan Jones stresses the importance of winning your home games if you want to progress in the Heineken Cup after his side makes it two without defeat in this year's competition
After scoring his second try of the season to help his side to a one point victory against French T14 leaders Clermont Auvergne, Jones said that with a home win under their belts to go with last weekend’s draw at Leicester, the Ospreys can be reasonably pleased with the start they have made in the competition, even if there is still room for improvement. He commented:
“We played some fantastic rugby at times during the first half, but I wonder if the boys should be allowed in at half time next time as we seem to be conceding points and yards of territory in the second half! In fairness, Clermont Auvergne came back out and played fantastic, they dominated territory, possession and the set piece. Without those three things you’ll struggle to win any rugby match.
“When you’re out there against world class opposition you know that there are going to be periods when the game flows with you and against you. There were key moments, a couple of individual errors that cost us again, it’s as simple as that. It doesn’t take a lot for a lead to be eaten away, but I think we showed fantastic composure at the end. The boys dug in deep and we came away with the winning points that we did deserved.
“We’ve been highly competitive in these last two games, we just need a little bit more composure all round. We’ll take what we’ve got from the games, we’re very pleased with our position in the group and we’ve got a few weeks until the next game in this competition so we’ll go away and work on it, to make sure we’re firing come the next round.
“It’s important that we’ve won our home game. You have to win at home and see what you can do away. We’ve drawn one at Leicester and won our first home game, which is a pretty good position to be in this early on in the competition.”