Marshall lays down the law over Ospreys’ prospects

Jan 14 2008 by Simon Thomas, Western Mail

JUSTIN MARSHALL believes the outstanding performances from the Ospreys’ home-grown players against Gloucester bodes well for Wales’ Six Nations prospects.

While the former All Blacks scrum-half earned the man of the match award for his Heineken heroics, he was quick to pay tribute to the likes of Gavin Henson and James Hook, along with the Welsh forwards on duty.

“There were a lot of international players out there and this is a level just below Test match rugby,” he said.

“A good sign is that those players, particularly the Welsh players in the forward pack, really stood up.

“Guys like Gavin and James also showed discipline in that when we had opportunities we took points and I was really pleased to see that. It’s not only good for us, but good for Welsh rugby in general.”

Marshall continued, “The real pleasing thing for me is how we just totally focused and approached the match.

“There was so much doubt about this team leading into the game and there’s been a lot of expectation from our supporters, which is justified.

“We have that expectation ourselves, but a lot of people were wondering whether we had the nous or the players to be competitive in the Heineken Cup.

“Having played Gloucester at Kingsholm, we knew we could compete with them. We competed for 50-odd minutes of that game.

“They took two opportunities from poor decisions from us, but the rest of the game we probably controlled.

“We’ve grown and learned from that experience. We knew what to expect from them and we knew what we wanted to get out of the game.

“We knew it was going to be a pressure situation, but our players really stood up.

“The forwards were astonishing. For the set-piece to be so good on such a terrible night was outstanding and we took our opportunities whenever we got into their half.

“That got us away on the scoreboard and the conditions didn’t allow them to play catch-up. It was an emphatic win, but it comes down to a lot of hard work.”

While delighted to be just one win away from the quarter-finals, Marshall stresses that the Ospreys can’t take their final Pool 2 game – away to Bourgoin on Sunday – lightly.

“We’ve got to be careful. We don’t want the hype to go over the top,” he said.

“It would be easy to say because we’ve put 30 points on Gloucester that we can qualify and go through and win this thing.

“We have done what we needed to do in this game, but we need to back it up.

“Bourgoin are a totally different prospect and an annoying one because we have to play a French side that has nothing to lose.

“They are out of the pool so they can go out and be ambitious and throw caution to the wind. French sides like that with their flair and unpredictability can be very dangerous, especially when they are at home.

“But we’ve done what we wanted to do so far and it’s really up to us now. We control where we go from here.”