The Liberty Stadium side fell out of the playoff please for the first time this season after a narrow 19-16 defeat at Glasgow Warriors. And Rhys knows just how important the next two weeks are for his side to kickstart their title chase.
He said: “Looking at the next two weeks, there’s no mistaking how big a period this is. It’s still incredibly tight at the top, and yes, we are playing catch-up having slipped out of the top four, but we have a fantastic opportunity to put that right with Leinster and Munster coming to the Liberty Stadium over the next fortnight.
“There’s no doubt that these are going to be two key fixtures for us, but with those games, and Glasgow still to come to the Liberty as well, our destiny is very much in our own hands, so we aren’t going to be too downbeat. It’s about doing things properly, being clinical and having the belief.”
A Tom Grabham try put the Ospreys in a commanding position at Scotstoun, but the Warriors turned the screw at the scrum to win a number of vital penalties. Peter Horne kicked the decisive penalty in the dying minutes, and Sam Davies missed the opportunity to level the scores after Glasgow infringed from the resulting kickoff. And Rees felt some key decisions did not go there way in the top of the table clash.
He said: ”I felt that in the 10 to 15-minute period that followed us going ahead we were on the wrong end of some key decisions. We believe there was a TMO referral that missed a degree of foul play, and the momentum swung against us.”