After picking up his first win as Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy admitted it had been a frustrating night but said he was pleased to get off to a winning start.
Giving his first pre-match press conference after being appointed in midweek, Tandy admitted that the nature of the win meant he couldn’t get carried away:
“I’m glad to get off to a winning start, if pretty frustrated with a lot of the game” he said shortly after the final whistle.
“I felt it was stop/start, we couldn’t really get a flow to it and there were too many turnovers but all in all, I’m pleased to get a positive result and a first win.
“After the week the boys have had, they responded well in training but yes, it is a bit frustrating tonight for myself and the players alike. Backing up the result in Edinburgh last weekend is a good thing but we’ll need to improve on this over the next few weeks.
“We had a good start with an early penalty try but I thought that when we got into the redzone, when we were looking to add a few more tries, there were a couple of infringements picked up that just took the momentum out of the game. We tried to chase one or two scores which led to too many turnovers, and that meant it was a frustrating night. But, like I said, with the week we’ve all had it was important that we got the win.
“It was a fairly young team out there and that has to be a positive. A lot of these guys were playing when we had the unbeaten run at the start of the season so we know what they can do. There was a fair sprinkling of senior boys tonight as well, Hibbs and Alun Wyn and the like, but it’s good to see people like Eli and Hanno coming more and more into the frame.
“Hibbs has been really good in training and led the team from the front today, while Alun Wyn brings a lot of energy to the group. There’s still a little bit of rustiness with him there but he’ll come on leaps and bounds now with a bit of game time.
“We want a home semi-final, we’re in a strong position to do that, and even though we’ve got players away on international duty I think we’ve got enough strength to go and get that home semi.”
The Ospreys lost Wales squad member Rhys Webb in the first half following an off-the-ball incident that led to Aironi’s Mauro Bergamasco spending time in the sin bin. When questioned about the incident and whether further action should be taken against the Italian openside, Tandy revealed that the scrum-half had been taken straight to Morriston Hospital in Swansea as a precautionary measure:
“I’m sure we’ll have a little look at it in detail later on, but the referee dealt with it. Rhys has gone to hospital for an x-ray, just checking his eye socket out.”