Ulster Rugby vs Ospreys

39 / 64

ULSTER INTENSITY WILL BE
“UP A FEW NOTCHES”
The second row led his charges to
a convincing win over Saracens at
the HAC in London last Thursday
evening, in their only pre-season
fixture, and although he was pleased
with how things went on the field,
Ashley warned that there is plenty
of work to be done before the new
campaign kicks-off in Belfast.
“It was a good hit out for us,” said
Ashley.
“It’s nice to get some rugby under
our belt and, for me personally, to
get through 80 minutes.
“There were positives about the
performance but we can’t get
blinded by the scoreboard, not
everything was perfect. We aren’t
going to blow it out of proportion.
It’s just a pre-season win, albeit one
against a good team.
“We’ve got plenty of work-ons
moving forward but we’ll take the
positives out of it, sit down over the
weekend and identify how we can
put right the negatives before we
kick off the PRO12.
“It’s important that we recognise this
isn’t a league game, it’s not Ulster
away, where the atmosphere and
the intensity will be up quite a few
notches on this.
“We’ve got to work hard in training,
we’ll be honest and pretty tough with
each other, as you have to be when
it’s Ulster at Kingspan next. That’s as
tough as it gets.”
Reflecting on the 33-16 win, with
the Ospreys running in five tries to
Saracens’ one, Ashley said it had
been good just to get back into
action after a long summer.
“We wanted to bed some units in
together, wanted to get through
some new plays and systems, in
attack and defence, and I think we
can be relatively happy that we got
the chance to do all that” was his
considered verdict.
”It’s good to actually get out there
with a ball in your hands, doing what
we love, as opposed to the shuttle
runs and everything that comes with
pre-season.
“On the flip side there were some
things we came into the game
wanting to achieve which we didn’t
do so we have to look at why, get
back on to the training paddock and
put that right. We’ll work hard, like we
have all summer.”
As the focus turns from Saracens
to Ulster, Ashley said that he was
pleased that last week’s win was
down to a good squad showing, with
replacements making a big impact
in the second half.
Looking at this week, building up to
PRO12 round one, he is expecting
the coaches to have some difficult
decisions to make.
“It’s always going to be a tough
week, but what makes it tougher is
the performance of boys coming
off the bench, who really made a
statement. That’s exactly the position
we want to be in, where not only is it
a tough week in training, working on
putting things right, but it is also a
tough week for the coaches, making
their selection.
“That’s a headache all teams should
want to have. It’s what we want at the
Ospreys.”
Ospreys skipper Lloyd Ashley says the team face “a pretty
tough challenge” in the Guinness PRO12 opener against
Ulster...
CLUB STATS
//Location
Swansea, Wales
//Founded
2003
//Ground
Liberty Stadium
//Capacity
20,820
//Last Game
Saracens (A) 33 - 16 (W)
Thu, 27 Aug 2015, 18:15
//Next Game
Munster Rugby (H)
Sun 13th Sep 15, 14:30
STAFF
// Coach
Steve Tandy
// Captain
Alun Wyn Jones
CONTACT
Liberty Stadium
Landore
Swansea
Wales
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T +44 1792 616 500
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