Skipper Justin Tipuric may have scored the match-winning try at the death, but he was quick to highlight the team effort that saw the Ospreys home against Edinburgh.
The younger flanker crossed for the score after a breathtaking counter attack from the Ospreys own line in the final play of the game at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday evening, but in his usual low-key style he gave the credit to his team-mates for their defensive work and their determination.
Speaking post-match he said:
“We had good line speed in defence which made it difficult for Edinburgh and luckily we got the turnover. It was great play by the boys. We were on our own line and managed to run it all the way up the other end to score. It was great spirit, we dug in right til the end.”
The winning try would have tasted that much sweeter for Tipuric after he was forced into a knock-on as he attempted to round off what had looked a try-scoring move late in the first half, but again, he was swift to play down such talk:
“It’s just part of the game really” he said.
“I just had to get my head up straight away, especially being captain. It’s just one of those things that happen. As soon as I hit the ground I could feel the ball bouncing out of my hand. You just have to react in the right way.”
Tipuric insisted that the Ospreys had expected a tough night at the coalface against an Edinburgh side keen to make up for their opening weekend defeat at home to Cardiff Blues, but he said that he was pleased by the way the team stuck to their task in the face of adversity:
“We expected Edinburgh to bounce back after last week, they are a good team and we knew they’d come down and make life difficult for us. It was an arm wrestle right through the game until the end. We had to stick to our structure, keep digging in, and we knew that we’d get a chance.
“We work hard for each other. We said before the game that last week we managed to get the points at the start but we knew that this week it might not be so easy so we had to keep working. No matter what the scoreline was we had to keep digging in to get the points on the board. As you saw, right until the end everybody worked hard, including the subs who came on off the bench. Everyone dug in and we were really tight.
“Even when we were on our own line at the end we were saying ‘discipline now and then when we get up the other end of the field we can hopefully snatch the points’. We back each other, we know what we can do as a team and we know the players around us and you’ve just got to read them. Keep your composure and hopefully you can take the points when you get the chance.”