Head Coach Sean Holley said that it was a case of mixed emotions after victory over Connacht on Friday night.
A Jerry Collins try and 11 points from the boot of Dan Biggar, along with a late James Hook penalty was enough to see the Ospreys home 19-12 in the opening game of the new Magners League season, and while happy with the result, Holley confessed that he was disappointed with the performance. He said:
“It was a very difficult game against tough opponents in testing conditions, and I’ve got mixed emotions after the final whistle. Obviously, I’m delighted that we’ve got off to a winning start, but there’s disappointment at the performance if I’m honest.
“There was a very strong wind which made life difficult for us in the first half, but I felt that we used it well after the break when we had a lot of pressure. Ill discipline cost both sides at times in the game, they had two yellows in the second half when the referee got frustrated with Connacht tactics. For us, Andy Lloyd was wrongly carded in a case of mistaken identity, it was an offence at the lineout by Ian Gough who should have gone.
“There were some pleasing individual performances out there, Dan Biggar coped well with the wind and scored a good drop goal to put us ahead after some early pressure and in the second half, his kicking was excellent. He made sure Connacht paid for another penalty offence with a good kick to the corner that we then drove over and an excellent penalty from out wide took us clear. I thought Jonathan Spratt worked hard and looked dangerous and Jerry Collins gave us some excellent ‘go-forward’ against a stubborn defence.
“Some indiscretion at the end allowed Connacht to get the bonus point that their efforts probably deserved, but I thought that there was only going to be one winner in that second half.”