Decimated Ospreys put up a fight in Shark tank

HEAD coach Toby Booth must be wondering what he has done to deserve the current plight of the Ospreys after his side produced a performance full of character despite being decimated by illness.

His squad out in South Africa was struck down with a bug before this defeat and he was missing 15 players due to them having been involved with Wales for the Autumn series.

His side leaves the southern hemisphere without a point despite a heroic against the odds performance against the Sharks, one of the giants of Super Rugby.

The Ospreys were only a point behind in the dying moments of this contest, having been struck down with an E-Coli style bug leaving on 25 players fit and available for selection.

Booth was hit by the bug himself, along with captain Rhys Webb, centre Michael Collins and reserve scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams, leaving the Ospreys down to their third-choice scrum-half, Matthew Aubrey.

“There is a lot of frustration but a lot of pride in what the guys have put into the shirt over the couple of weeks, dealing with diversions and influences that are distracting from performance,” said Booth.

“We contribute loads of players to the Welsh squad. None of those were able to come out due to the fixture list and Welsh programme.

“We have also had illness to deal with, but we have come out here with what we’ve got and pushed two teams hard. We have fought tooth and nail against a lot of different factors.”

Ospreys were without Alex Cuthbert, George North, Joe Hawkins, Gareth Anscombe, Gareth Thomas, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric, Tomas Francis, Nicky Smith and Rhys Davies, who did not travel to South Africa having been in Wales’ squad.

But Booth’s young side pushed the Sharks, who had sacked coach Sean Everitt in midweek after their 35-0 defeat to Cardiff last weekend, all the way in a full-blooded encounter.

Curwin Bosch’s two penalties separated the sides at half-time. Luke Morgan ran in from distance for the Ospreys’ opening try and Sikhumbuzo Notshe replied for Sharks.

No.8 Morgan Morris barged over from shortrange after a driving lineout, but the Sharks crossed for two late tries from Bosch and back row James Venter.