Under 16's Disappointment

After a successful tour to London and a winning performance against the Dragons, the Young Ospreys were devastated by losing their fixture with the Scarlets.

Both teams worked extremely hard but it was obvious that they were learning to perform at Regional level as there was a mixture of untidy play which could be quicly followed by quality. It was also a very physical game and a number of replacements were made because of this; unfortunately it all got too much for the players at one stage and two players were yellow carded after an altercation.

The Scarlets fully justified their win but what was disappointing from an Osprey perspective, was that a disputed try right at the end of the game gave a scoreline of 18 points to 10 and therefore they lost out on a bonus point for not being within 7 points of the victor.

First on the scoreboard were the Ospreys when scrum half Haydn Williams took a quick penalty and No 8 Scott Hicks barged over for his second try in Reebok games; the touchline conversion by outside half Craig Davies made it 7 points to nil to the Young Ospreys. However, the Scarlets scored 10 points through a try be centre Rhys Gingell and a penalty and conversion by outside half Jonathon Thomas for a 10 points to 7 half time lead.

Thomas further extended the lead after the interval with a penalty before the Opsreys reduced the arrears also with a penalty by full back Chad Punchard. The Young Ospreys getting a bonus point would have been fully justified but unfortunately the referee and his touch judge felt that that wing Josh Smart's momentum took him over, while Young Osprey wing Georgie Rees was convinced that Smart needed a double movement to cross the line.

Next up for the Young Osprey is a tough fixture with the unbeaten Blues North at Merthyr on Wednesday October 11th.