Ospreys coach Sean Holley admitted that he was relieved to escape with victory after a nervy finish against Clermont.
Ospreys coach relieved after narrow victory
Ospreys coach Sean Holley admitted to feeling nervy as his side almost surrendered a comfortable lead against Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup.
The Welsh side enjoyed a commanding 22-3 cushion at half-time but saw their opponents turn the match around after the interval.
At one point Clermont were heading for an unlikely comeback victory but a penalty from Dan Biggar snatched a 25-24 win for the hosts.
Despite the wobble, Holley was pleased with the way his team eventually saw off last year's Top 14 runners-up.
"Clearly it was nerve-wracking and we are just glad to get over the line," he said.
"We wanted to come out and play with intent and move Clermont around the field and we clearly achieved that in the first half.
Resolve
"We knew at half-time that they would come back at us, and they did that, but we did extremely well and showed some resolve to get back in front at the end.
"I'm really proud of them because we were up against the most formidable side that has been down here in a couple of years in terms of depth of squad and size.
"Like last week we probably should have pushed on and got the bonus point but we will wake up tomorrow and realise we are in a good position in the group."
Holley could not confirm the extent of the injury suffered by Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips, who limped off with an ankle problem in the 33rd minute.
Clermont boss
Vern Cotter was left rueing his side's poor first-half performance but was impressed with the way they fought back after the break.
He said: "I think we didn't get our hands on the ball enough in the first half. I thought the Ospreys started well and scored points and we couldn't produce and maintain pressure.
"We either lost it on the ground or in the kicking exchanges and the yellow card (for lock Thibaut Privat) didn't help us.
"We didn't get our teeth into the first half but in the second half we got our hands on the ball more and were able to express ourselves more.
"I was very happy with the character we showed in the second half. We had a fourth try disallowed and a penalty hit a post so we were in with a good chance of winning it at the end."
