Ospreys head coach Sean Holley has backed Ashley Beck to secure a place in Wales' RBS 6 Nations squad.
Welsh side still hoping for a quarter-final berth
Ospreys head coach Sean Holley has backed Ashley Beck to secure a place in Wales' RBS 6 Nations squad, after the centre grabbed a brace of tries in the 44-17 victory over Treviso.
Beck, 21, has been tipped as one to watch since making his debut as a 17-year-old, and he continued his outstanding recent form with another classy man-of-the-match performance in the Ospreys midfield, as they kept alive their slim hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
"It is someone else's decision, but Ashley is doing all he can to apply pressure," said Holley."If you look at the 12s around the county he has to be up there, he showed a lot of class tonight.
"I have known Ashley for seven or eight years and he has grown in confidence and it shows. I hope he gets the call but I think it's only a matter of time."
Holley was pleased with the application his players had shown after a difficult recent period that has seen them lose four of their last five games, and director of coaching Scott Johnson announce he is to leave at the end of the season to take up a role with Scotland.
He said: "I have been pleased with how the players applied themselves all week. We tweaked things a bit to try and play with more movement and the guys responded positively to it and got their rewards.
Clinical
"We could have got more tries over, but that's been the story of our season, we lacked clinical edge at the end but I am pleased we have got over the line as many times as we have and it was a deserved victory."
And Holley insists his side have not given up hope of reaching the last-eight.
"We are disappointed with the defeats we suffered against Saracens, we dominated the game at home and we should be better placed," he said.
"But we don't want to look back we want to look forward to the rest of the season, we talked abut putting pressure on the other sides and if we take as much as we can next week then who knows, stranger things have happened, but we want to finish strongly and see where we come out in mix.
"We will see what happens, we still believe there is a chance and while there is a chance you've got to believe.
"If we end up in the Amlin then we will go for it as there will be ranking points and silverware at stake, but our belief is still there."
