Attack Coach Paul John admitted tries either side of half-time had taken the wind out of the sails of Cardiff Blues as they fell to a 31-23 defeat to Ospreys in the Guinness PRO12 in Judgement Day III at the Millennium Stadium.
Cardiff Blues were in control after an impressive opening half hour at the national stadium saw Gareth Anscombe kick them into a 9-0 lead.
But tries either side of the interval – from Dan Evans and Dan Biggar – saw Ospreys wrestle back control as they wrapped up the bonus point a secure a place in the end of season play-offs.
“After 30 minutes I felt we were playing really well,” said John. “We actually left a few opportunities out there and it’s frustrating that we didn’t capitalise on them.
“Maybe if we were full of confidence we would have finished a few of them off.
“We let them back in towards the end of the first half and then a poor start to the second half didn’t help us.
“We handed the momentum back to them. We tried to wrestle it back with Josh Navidi, who I thought was outstanding, scoring under the posts. But after that we gave another penalty away and the momentum again.
“For 30 minutes we played the way we wanted to play,” he added. “We kicked into the right areas and attacked how we wanted to attack. What we had spoken about all week was working.
“But when it went slightly wrong and they got hold of the game that is when you could see the confidence is low.
“We are where we are in the league and we have got to find the right mental attitude to keep going in games.”