THIN Lizzy's The Boys Are Back in Town reverberated around the Liberty Stadium in the seconds before the Ospreys took the pitch for their first pre-season match in Swansea.

Except they weren't really back — the boys, that is, and particularly if you class such individuals as being the XV who took the field in the Magners League final against Leinster in Dublin in May.

Of that side, only Marty Holah was present and correct as the region ran out in the wind and rain on Saturday.

True, more of the front-liners did get to come on as second-half replacements.

And Tommy Bowe got to spin the tombola and draw the names of competition prize winners before the start of play.

But the Irishman then retreated to the stand to join the core of the team who delivered the 17-12 success in the Irish capital three months ago.

They watched a disjointed performance that Scott Johnson later described as a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. He wasn't lying. At times it would have been enough for Clint Eastwood to turn his guns on himself.

Such is the way of the world in friendlies.

Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath hit the nail squarely on the head afterwards when he declared there were no gold medals for these winning pre-season games.

And any Ospreys fans still unconvinced that the world didn't end at 4pm on Saturday might lift their spirits by considering the recent fortunes of Chelsea football club.

The team bankrolled by Roman Abramovich headed into their Premier League campaign on the back of four straight defeats. Yet they have opened the season with two wins from as many games, scoring 12 goals and conceding none.

As the former Netherlands football manager Frank Rijkaard once perceptively noted: ''Pavarotti is not judged by how he sings in the shower. People wait until he gets on stage.''

The defeat may actually be a good thing for the Ospreys in that it will underline how much work needs to be done before the competitive matches start arriving thick and fast.

Certainly the coaches will demand a huge improvement in the defensive play of individual players, particularly as many of the starting line-up against Gloucester will be on the front line for the six Magners League games that are played during this term's international windows.

Ospreys fans are unused to open-door defence.

In the Magners final they saw Andrew Bishop knock back Brian O'Driscoll that thunderously and that frequently that the great Irish centre ran out of ideas long before the end. But Gloucester created huge overlaps, none bigger than the one carved out in the build-up to their second try. They could even afford the luxury of choosing not to exploit it, instead switching inside for Luke Narraway to crash over.

Having made one excellent tackle on Olly Morgan, Tom Prydie was guilty of the miss that led to the third Gloucester try, while Gloucester also targeted Dai Flanagan and went out of their way to test Gareth Owen.

Prydie is only 18, incredibly young to be playing at this level, and the probability is he will come through to settle and prove a major success. But if he is to challenge for a regular spot sooner rather than later he will need to iron out any defensive creases in his game.

And the same goes for all the region's youngsters.

The Ospreys coaches reacted against Gloucester by subbing Prydie and Flanagan at half-time and switching Owen from inside centre to full-back, sending on Ashley Beck in midfield and Dan Biggar at fly-half.

Thereafter, not a point was conceded.

Biggar scored a try within minutes of his arrival and generally marshalled play with authority, coming within an ace of creating another try with a deft kick through that rebounded back off a post with two Ospreys waiting to touch down.

The home line-out misfired in the difficult conditions before eventually settling, with Ian Evans winning a stream of possession, while Gloucester tried hard to pressure the region's scrum but occasionally found themselves forced back.

Scott Johnson was pleased with Craig Mitchell's set-piece work alongside Mefin Davies, while the hooker could also be seen at one point offering Ryan Bevington the benefit of his experience.

''I coached Mef a while back, so I know the type of person he is,'' said Johnson. ''We've picked him on personality and for the good of Welsh rugby.

''He is coming to the end of his career and we don't want his knowledge to be lost. We want him to spend time and energy on kids like Craig Mitchell and Joe Rees and those lads, players we think can go on to further things.

''It's hard to find quality tight-heads on the market, so we've put our trust in local kids.

''And from a young prop's point of view, it's must be nice to have an older head next to you who knows the shortcuts, who knows how to do things properly.''

Johnson continued: ''Tight-head is probably the one area in the professional game in Wales where we haven't had a lot of players coming through.

''Adam (Jones) has sort of had a mortgage on that spot.

''We need Adam under pressure, too, and we need time spent with some of the young ones. Mef is fantastic at that.

''It showed on Saturday because I thought Mitchell scrummed really, really well with Mef.

''It was his (Mitchell's) first run-out of the season. I can't coach what Mef can, so it's really good.

''If another quality tighthead comes through, that's really good for Wales.''

The diminutive Davies, a Mini Metro among the juggernauts of today's game, continues to amaze Johnson. ''He's an enigma in the modern game,'' said the Australian. ''When we coached him before, we all thought Test hookers should be 106 or 107-plus kg. Then we looked at Mefin and, even with sand in his pockets, he used to weigh in at only 95kg, yet he was still able to defy the laws of gravity.

''I suppose it says a lot of about our sport when the oddities can still do it.

''That tells you one thing — he has plenty of ticker. He also has some nous and when you combine the two you can't go too far wrong. He's been a great addition to our squad. Hopefully, we'll benefit and in the long term Wales will benefit, because he's forgotten more than most people know when it comes to scrummaging.''

The stand-out player for the Ospreys was Richard Fussell, who has the potential to be crowd favourite at the Liberty.

Bright

Composed in almost everything he did, he looked sharp in attack and neat in defence, a player who could interest Warren Gatland if he hits a consistent streak of form.

The other bright light was Justin Tipuric, on for only 16 minutes at the end but into everything in the back row, tackling, foraging and generally looking the genuine article.

Gloucester, spurred on initially by Nicky Robinson, simply preyed on the Ospreys' mistakes.

The key for the Ospreys is not to repeat those errors. ''We won't tolerate them,'' said Johnson later, making clear he carries a stick as well as a carrot.

The Ospreys can't afford to tolerate those mistakes.

And, thinking about it, nor can they really afford Tommy Bowe to be on tombola duty for too long, either.