Despite his obvious disappointment following defeat in France on Friday night, Ospreys skipper Alun Wyn Jones has vowed that the Ospreys will continue fighting to the very end in the Heineken Cup.
The loss was the third consecutive defeat for the region in this year’s competition, leaving the Ospreys rooted to the foot of Pool 1, and after a huge defensive effort followed by a late onslaught on the Castres line, this one was particularly difficult for the captain to take.
Asked by the media post-match what the over riding emotion was after the bonus point defeat, Alun Wyn paused for almost 10 seconds to gather his thoughts before responding.
“That’s a good question” said Jones.
“I don’t think we’ll leave here wondering. We were probably a bit sloppy around our exit strategy in the second half, but the way we played, the way we defended in the first half and attacked at the end of the second half showed the character of the side and a large part of me feels we deserved the result.
“The people who wrote us off before we even got on the plane, will probably be happy and feel justified as a result of this because of what they’ve said, their two pence worth. Congratulations to them. We came out here to do a job and we almost did it. I’m very proud of the people sat in the changing room right now.
“We may be down and out but we won’t give up. That’s a bit of a motto that we’ve got. Like I said, we defended well, tackled well in the second half. We can argue about the penalty at the end, but I thought we showed real heart and desire throughout the game, which is what we want this team to be known for. That’s important.
“If you look at the last 10 minutes as a whole, I think the decision with the penalties to play it the way we did was the right one. It was a risky decision but the pressure was mounting, they had two yellow cards, and I think we had a bit of an overlap but someone got caught in possession. You can look at the area of the field where that last penalty was given against us and feel hard done by, but ultimately it is the man in the middle that has the final say and we have to accept that no matter how disappointed we are about missing out.”