Former Wales captain Jonathan Humphreys believes his Ospreys side need to improve in the breakdown if they are to bounce back from defeat when they face Aironi at the weekend.
Humphreys has stated his side need to adapt better to the referee’s interpretations of the new International Rugby Board directive which demands defensive, rather than attacking team are refereed closer at the breakdown.
“We are not playing the breakdown well enough,” said Humphreys.
“We understand what we have done wrong and we are working with referees on a week by week basis to put things right so it doesn’t happen again.
“It’s a bone of contention, the new interpretations and how you play it and there are some difficulties with interpretations at the moment.
“Right now we are coming off on the wrong side of decisions and working hard to find out what we need to do to change.”
The Ospreys forward coach has seen his Magners League Championship winning side suffer two early setbacks this season, both on Irish soil. Ulster had the better of them on the opening weekend at Ravenhill and Munster dominated the game last weekend as the Ospreys went down 22-10.
“Munster were excellent and came at us hard and won that area well,” added Humphreys.
“We have boys who go naturally strong at the ball and that’s not working at the moment, we have to understand the way the referee is playing it early on.”
The Ospreys line up against Aironi at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday evening hoping for a second victory over Italian opposition after beating Treviso 32-16 a fortnight ago.
