The four-times Celtic Champions may have parted company with some big names in recent seasons, but home-grown back rower Smith insists that an emphasis on players who have always wanted nothing more than to be an Osprey could fire them on to further success.
“There’s an emphasis on not having the big signings that we’ve had in the past and instead having to rely on what we can produce ourselves. That just gives us more of a feeling of team pride and of playing for each other,” said Smith.
“We haven’t got lots of boys coming in from different places. They’ve been brought up within the Ospreys structure and that’s their team, that’s the team they have always been aspiring to play for.
“You’re looking at the future of the club for the next three or four years here. It just shows that we are producing some good players. (We know) that’s the future of the club and we have to buy into it.
“Hopefully we can stick together as a team. It’s not going to be easy, there’s going to be a lot of learning to do and it is going to be tough at times, but we just have to stick with it and show a bit of trust and faith in those boys because it will come.”
The Ospreys started the new season with an impressive win over Benetton Treviso in Italy last weekend but now face an even more difficult away test against Leinster on Saturday.
Openside flanker Sam Lewis knows Steve Tandy’s troops will have to produce another top performance if they are to shock the reigning RaboDirect PRO12 Champions in their own backyard but he insists their triumph in Trevsio means they head to Dublin in high spirits.
“It’s always a battle out there in Treviso. If you give them an inch they just keep coming at you,” said Lewis.
“But the boys dug deep, kept battling and fronted up well. It’s an always an honour when you pull on the Ospreys jersey.
“That win definitely gives you confidence, but things don’t get any easier with Leinster away.”
