Ospreys on cue to prove their point

Apr 13 2008 by Scott Quinnell, Wales On Sunday

SO you wait 20 years for a Welsh win at Twickenham and then you get two in the same year.

The Ospreys emulated Wales with a victory at HQ and were well worth their win. They certainly put last weekend’s Heineken Cup nightmare behind them in emphatic fashion.

This was as good a win and performance as the manner of defeat to Saracens was disappointing.

The Ospreys knew they had a point to prove against Leicester after their shock exit from Europe and they did exactly that. It will have been a difficult week down in Ospreylia, with endless meetings and lots of soul-searching by the players and the coaches.

I have been in a dressing room when a side fails to live up to its own expectations, let alone everybody else’s, and it’s not a nice place to be.

Everybody will have been hurting after the disappointment of Vicarage Road, and this win will only really ease the memory of that defeat.

Hard questions are asked of everybody and you have to take a long look at yourself and your team-mates to find the answers. The Ospreys clearly did this in the week before the EDF Energy Cup final and found the answers.

The Ospreys have made no secret of their ambition and they have finally nailed a big trophy, apart from the two Magners League titles. The floodgates could open up for them now.

Winning becomes a habit and addictive and winning your first big piece of silverware will only give what is still a very young side bags of confidence. There are not many teams in Europe who beat the Tigers in the home of English rugby.

Lyn Jones, the Ospreys coach, will be a relieved man after this victory, but he will know better than anyone that you get the plaudits when you win and the flak when you lose.

That is the life of a professional coach and it is such a fine line between success and failure at this high level.

Questions were being asked of his position as coach but this victory means he will be in charge next season.

He is just having to deal with the expectation of being in charge of one of the most exciting teams in Europe.

While winning will be very satisfying for Lyn, seeing his side play to their potential will be even more satisfying.

He will know better than anyone there is much more to come from his side. You really do feel the sky is the limit for them.

They dispatched one of the giants of European rugby quite comfortably and that will send out warning signals to the rest of Europe.

I still believe they have a side and, more importantly, a squad which can compete with anything in Europe.

That is what makes the Ospreys’ early exit from Europe so disappointing. You won’t see many sides stand toe-to-toe with a Tigers pack and come out on top, but the Ospreys did exactly that.

The Ospreys pack proved how powerful and effective they can be and with Justin Marshall pulling the strings, they found a nice early rhythm.

The Ospreys did exactly what they didn’t do last Sunday, they built a game early on, kept it simple and went through the phases.

They struck at the right time and might have scored more tries but, once again, their defence was the platform for this win.

I thought some of the lesser names like Richard Hibbard, Paul James, Jonny Vaughton and Andrew Bishop all played a significant part in this victory.

They replaced some big name players and you didn’t notice the likes of Gavin Henson, Nikki Walker, Huw Bennett and Duncan Jones were missing.

Marty Holah, the former All Black flanker, proved what a good signing he has been with an all-action performance. He dominated the contact area and was a constant thorn in the Tigers’ side.

He put his body on the line and slowed the ball down and was just an absolute nuisance, and that’s something the Tigers would have respected.