FRUSTRATION AS EURO TRIP ENDS
THE Ospreys’ Challenge Cup campaign came to a disappointing end as they were knocked out in the quarterfinals after a 23-13 defeat to Gloucester at Kingsholm.
Head coach Toby Booth described the defeat as “really frustrating” and said his side were not “as good as we could have been”.
Booth admitted that it was the fact that the Ospreys didn’t give a decent account of themselves on the back of last week’s first-ever European knockout win was tough to take.
“Bitterly disappointed,” he said afterwards. “Frustrated. Not just mine, but the team’s (reflections).
“I don’t want to be disrespectful as I thought Gloucester were very good and deserved to win. I’m just frustrated around some of the elements of our game which didn’t stand up as we would have liked them to. That made for a frustrating evening.
“When you’re in cup rugby, you need to make sure you control your controllables better and deal with pressure. I’m not going to sit here and say it’s a great learning curve. It is a great learning curve but I don’t want to focus on that because we were here, we had a chance to move forward and we’ve not taken that.
“So it’s really frustrating. The plus side is we’ve gone one step further than last time in a knockout competition. When the dust settles, we’ll probably reflect on progress. The overriding emotion is disappointment as I don’t think we were as good as we could have been.”
A week on from their first-ever European knockout win over Sale at the Brewery Field, there was to be no repeat as George Skivington’s side simply had a little bit too much for the visitors.
Keelan Giles’ first-half try and the boot of Owen Williams had given Booth’s side hope at the break, but a scoreless second-half extinguished any hopes of a place in the last four.
At times, it felt like the script from last week was being followed closely.
The Ospreys came to play early on, but it was Gloucester – like Sale in Bridgend – who had the better of the opening exchanges.
Like their Gallagher Premiership counterparts last week, they would be rewarded with the opening points early on. Full-back Santiago Carreras’ penalty breaking the deadlock after seven minutes.
As the Ospreys’ usual staples – scrum and lineout – faltered at Kingsholm, it was the Cherry and Whites who looked likeliest to trouble the scorers next.
Wales centre Max Llewellyn had the visiting defence scrambling after powering onto a deft tip-on pass. The Ospreys survived on that occasion, but the signs felt ominous.
And then, against the run of play, the Ospreys created something from virtually nothing. Full-back Jack Walsh gathered a loose chip from Adam Hastings at full tilt, continuing at that speed across the pitch as a gap in the Gloucester chase opened up.
Bursting through, he found inform winger Giles outside him, who raced away to score the evening’s opening try.
Carreras and Ospreys fly-half Williams would trade penalties, but Gloucester’s advantage at the setpiece meant the pressure was always on the visitors.
Moments after Adam Beard and the Ospreys pack superbly shut down one driving maul near their own line, the away pack had no answer to another powerful shove from the Gloucester pack just after half-anhour. This time, the home side rumbled over in the corner, with hooker Seb Blake scoring.
The boot of Carreras pushed Gloucester a little further ahead, before Williams reeled them back in a touch before the break - ensuring it was just a one-point deficit at halftime
However, Gloucester’s dominance carried through to the second-half, with Carreras’ metronomic boot pushing them further ahead. When the Ospreys had a rare chance for points, Williams’ effort from the tee struck the upright.
Soon, a one-point gap was seven heading into the final quarter.
Another Carreras penalty made it a two-score game heading into the final 10 minutes, ensuring the Ospreys were up against it to save their European hopes.
However, on a night when very little went in their favour, there never seemed much danger of that and so it proved as the Ospreys crashed out with even troubling the scorers in the second-half.