Ospreys coach Sean Holley was left to reflect on what might have been after seeing his side fall to a narrow 17-15 in Perpignan.
Further tests for Byrne on ankle injury
Ospreys head coach Sean Holley was left to reflect on what might have been after seeing his side come up just short after a narrow 17-15 in Perpignan.
The Welsh outfit produced a spirited second-half display after trailing 12-0 at the break, but ultimately had to satisfy themselves with a losing bonus point despite tries from Shane Williams and Jonny Vaughton.
"The boys are very tired. We had a good chance and we are down because we weren't clinical enough," Holley said.
However, any joy at that losing bonus point was tempered by an ankle injury to Lee Byrne which influential full-back off towards the end of the first-half.
When questioned about the prognosis, assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys said: "He is still in the dressing room at present, he is on crutches as a precaution but it is too early to say the extent of the damage to his ankle.
"It occurred when he and Mike Phillips collided when going for the same high ball due to a lot of noise from the crowd. It would have been impossible for either of them to hear the call."
Like Holley, Humphreys also bemoaned Ospreys' lack of incisiveness, adding: "It was a very daunting atmosphere but all the players were excited by it.
"We were within a hair's breadth of being 20 points up at half-time but the final pass kept going astray. It was very frustrating but, to a degree, we put it right in the second half.
"In the first half we had probably 30 possessions and turned over 20 of them. We chatted at half-time and there was no panic amongst the boys as we knew we were within an inch of putting it right.
"We aimed to keep it tight and hold the ball until Mike Phillips had returned from the sin bin but we gave them a try and that gave them too much of a head start."
Cusiter - fair result
Perpignan's Scotland scrum-half Chris Cusiter believed the result ultimately proved a fair reflection of the game, declaring: "We deserved to win the game, after Henry Tuilagi scored we were in control.
"We made more of the possession and had taken advantage of it when they killed the ball by kicking the points.
"We didn't make enough of the period when Mike Phillips was off and full credit to the Ospreys for coming back strongly.
"It was a high level of intensity game and pretty fast in the first half."
Jacques Bruner, the Perpignan director of rugby, added: "I was essentially happy just for us to get home. We started slowly but eventually found our rhythm.
"For the first period of the second half we dominated but for the rest of the match the Ospreys were the image of the Welsh team with a large amount of flair. It certainly was a see-saw match."
