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Steve Tandy is a former Ospreys flanker

Shane Williams says Ospreys players must share responsibility for head coach Steve Tandy's departure.

Tandy left after their European Champions Cup defeat at Clermont Auvergne.

Ospreys and Wales wing legend Williams said: "I just hope the Ospreys can move on from this; that the players take a bit of responsibility as well because they have been under-achieving."

Tandy been in charge since 2012 and Ospreys have not named a successor.

Managing director Andrew Millward says they are seeking a world class successor to Tandy, but will rely on existing staff until the end of the 2017-18 season.

As well as being out of Europe's top tier, they are second-from-bottom in the seven-strong Pro14 Conference A with only four wins from 13 games.

Williams played nine seasons for Ospreys, scoring 47 tries in 141 games and is a former team-mate of ex-flanker Tandy.

Steve Tandy (L) and Shane Williams watch Ospreys in February, 2012 against Italian side Aironi

"Steve was in a very difficult position where the harder he seemed to try to get the team together, the worse it was getting," said Williams.

"The team hasn't been performing well. They've massively under-achieved.

"They look like they don't really know what they're doing. There's no direction there at the moment and obviously something was going to take its toll and unfortunately for Steve it's him.

"It's disappointing because I'm very friendly with Steve.

"He's an Osprey through and through and I know he took his job very personally and gave everything to the cause."

Tandy's contract

At the start of this season Ospreys officials said Tandy would be in charge until at least 2020.

Williams says the decision to do so suggests the region is "poorly managed".

But managing director Andrew Millward told BBC Sport Wales Tandy's contract was signed two years beforehand and only announced in the summer of 2017.

"The contract extension was signed two years ago," said Millward.

"At the time it was renewed Steve had earned that. There were many reasons why it wasn't publicised at the time; I can't answer why it wasn't, but certainly at the time he was doing well and warranted the renewal.

"The fact that it didn't get publicised has meant we had to say it in the summer [August 2017] so the assumption was made that it was on the back of last season which wasn't correct."

Tandy exit 'not a shock' - Holley

Tandy's predecessor Sean Holley says his departure "is not a shock" as Ospreys results had not matched expectations.

Speaking to BBC Sport Wales, Holley added: "It's probably more of a surprise with the timing.

"It's not ideal immediately after a European exit and still a large part of the season to go with Champions Cup qualification to play for.

"So it's a difficult time, but that's the nature of the professional coaching game now."