Ospreys<\/a> head coach Mark Jones believes his side showed signs of improvement during the defeat to Cardiff that can help them in their final three games.<\/p>\nTheir hopes of reaching the URC play-offs were dented with the Judgement Day defeat, with Jones admitting they likely need to win their clash against Dragons and then both games in South Africa.<\/p>\n
However, while Jones knows they’re up against it, he believes there was positives to take from the defeat that they can carry into the clash with the Gwent side next week.<\/p>\n
“I was pleased with what I saw in the second half and probably as unhappy around the execution in the first half,” said the former Wales wing.<\/p>\n
“We showed in the second half there was plenty of energy but it was about the accuracy in the first half.<\/p>\n
“It is what it is and we have to move on quickly.<\/p>\n
“The challenge for us in the next three games is to make sure we get out of the blocks well and don’t give us too much of a hill to climb in the second half.”<\/p>\n
England star backed to make Lions squad<\/p>\n
By PA Sport Staff<\/p>\n
Alex Sanderson backed Tom Curry to get on a second Lions tour after the England flanker did his very best to capture the attention of Andy Farrell at Twickenham Stoop.<\/p>\n
Curry produced the kind of carrying and try-scoring performance which England fans have enjoyed for many years in Sale\u2019s 43-29 victory over Harlequins in the Premiership.<\/p>\n
But the flanker, who was fighting back from hip surgery this time last year, needs to be \u201cprotected\u201d to avoid doing himself further damage according to a delighted Sharks boss Sanderson, whose team jumped into the top four in their fight for a play-off place.<\/p>\n
Curry, 26, is keen to go on a second Lions tour this summer, and Sanderson said: \u201cHow good is Tom? He\u2019s put in a good shift there. He was brilliant but you have to look after him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are boys you have to protect for themselves. He and the likes of Cowan-Dickie are pushing for Lions honours and they richly deserve it if you\u2019re just going on that game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are naming the squad soon for Australia but you\u2019d like to think Tom will have a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a great pack. Asher Opoku-Fordjour was outstanding too. He\u2019s so powerful. That will set him apart from other tightheads. But you still have to do the bread and butter in mauling and scrummaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge Ford was outstanding in the windy conditions. He controlled the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rugby news stories from Wales and beyondTaulupe Faletau of Cardiff was superb(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5313,13416,15032,4151,79,20246,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-34990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","9":"tag-cardiff-rugby","10":"tag-ospreys","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-taulupe-faletau","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114369060132313921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Taulupe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_JS366366240.jpg\")
Taulupe Faletau of Cardiff was superb(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)<\/p>\n