Forwards Coach Jonathan Humphreys said he was delighted to see the Ospreys get off to a winning start in the 2011/12 Heineken Cup.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Humphreys was full of praise for the effort and endeavour on show – and for the outstanding support from the Liberty Stadium crowd.
He commented:
“It was a difficult first game, Biarritz with all their stars. Looking at them, that’s by far the best they’ve played this season and we’re delighted.
“We talked about playing the game at pace, trying to keep the ball in play as much as we could. We didn’t quite get that in the first half, it was stop start, and it brought them into the game a little bit more than we would have liked.
“We showed great resolve in the second half to go like we did and it was fantastic to see the crowd getting behind us, and to defend like we did in that last five minutes. This group shows some great character, and hopefully we’ll get better and better as we are together more. The crowd were very vocal and that’s the most noise they’ve made this season. We were delighted with the noise levels and it really spurred us on.
“These boys worked hard all week and it was great that we delivered ball to allow the team to go forward.
“Kahn is a competitor, and if you isolate the last 10 minutes of the game you can see a kid who’s desperate to compete and desperate to win. That’s why we were delighted when we signed him. He’s a great rugby player and we’re happy to have him.
“Dan Biggar is fantastic for us. If you wanted to sum up this environment it’s him. He’s diligent, he is the best prepared player in our team. There’s no stone left unturned with him. We’re always delighted with him, and today I thought he was exceptional. He deserves all the plaudits he gets.
“Adam was touch and go for this game. He’s worked extremely hard off the field to be right for this game and 65 minutes in or whatever it was he was starting to feel his calf a bit, which is when we pulled him off. Aaron Jarvis came on and he did very, very well for us, so we are happy we are getting some strength in depth. We’ll see how Adam comes out in the wash, but hopefully, what we did will allow him to go again next week.
“Tips turned his ankle. At half time, all he was thinking about was he didn’t want to let the team down. We made the decision to keep him off so hopefully, he’s not too severe.”