Jones: We must get house in order

THE Ospreys may be drinking in the last chance saloon, but captain Ryan Jones refuses to call time on their season until last orders are served at Thomond Park tomorrow.

Both sets of players will be only too aware that games — and with them the fate of a team’s season and even history — are not over until the final kick of the game.

In Limerick, 18 of the players (nine from either side) taking to the pitch started for their respective countries in the Grand Slam epic in Cardiff just three weeks ago.

Among them, Wales and Ospreys skipper Jones, who was seconds away from becoming the first player in 30 years to lead the Dragons to successive Triple Crown titles only for ‘that’ kick to fall short at the Millennium Stadium. So narrow are the margins at the pinnacle of the game.

Unsurprisingly, it was a crushing blow to Jones along with the legion of his fellow Ospreys who were clearly still suffering a hangover when they crashed out of the EDF Energy Cup semi-final just seven days later, denied a single point for the first time in the region’s six-year history by a below-par Gloucester.

Jones said: “It’s been tough when you hit rock bottom but the most important thing in professional sport is to be able to put loss and disappointment behind you and move on. It’s always difficult coming down after such an emotional and physical weekend such as the game against Ireland. We’ve gone through a wide range of emotions. We went from being on the verge of achieving something great to having it all taken away 80 seconds later.

“But we have to put what happened with Wales to one side. We need to focus on this weekend and the job in hand.

“We’re fortunate that it’s such a big game so we can say goodbye to the Ireland disappointment. We were caught with a hangover from that defeat against Gloucester and we should have been better than that.”

The Ospreys may have twice won the Celtic League, in 2005 and 2007, before lifting the Anglo-Welsh Cup last year, but one can almost choke on the sense of under-achievement around the Liberty Stadium. Two domestic titles pale in comparison with Munster’s brace of Heineken Cup triumphs, a stark reminder of the difference between a team who, on paper, is capable of winning in Europe and a squad who has fulfilled that potential.

Coach Sean Holley hinted at the problem following that 17-0 loss to Gloucester, admitting a group of 15 talented individuals does not necessarily make a world-beating team. The arrival of former Wales coach Scott Johnson last weekend will undoubtedly help that, though not in time for tomorrow trip Shannonside.

The Aussie worked with many of the Ospreys “galacticos” while assistant to Mike Ruddock during the 2005 Grand Slam. Indeed some, in hushed corners, regard Johnson as the genuine mastermind behind that success and the free-flowing style of rugby that came with it. How the Ospreys need his input. Apart from the predictable try-feast against Italians Benetton Treviso in the pool round, the Ospreys crossed the whitewash just twice in four games against big guns Leicester and Perpignan.

“We are highly-motivated individuals and incredibly competitive because this club won’t settle for not winning any trophies,” said Jones. “We’ve experienced success but we’re trying to create something special and want that success to continue. But we’re well aware how tough that is going to be against Munster.

“Ireland against Wales was a two-pointer and we weren’t far away. But then this is the Ospreys versus Munster.

“Munster play slightly differently from the way Ireland play and we certainly play very differently from the way Wales play. It’s about making sure we turn up on the day.

“Teams like Munster, with the characters they have, capitalise on your mistakes. They’re a team that allow you to hang yourselves at times, so we must be careful and clinical.

“We’ve got to play with a composure and a maturity. That’s the key to this weekend, that’s what it takes to win in a hostile environment against a hostile team.”