Everyone at St Helens last night (Wednesday 23rd) was amazed by the quality of the surface, considering the recent spate of wet weather. The result of such conditions was that the players went out and produced an exciting encounter which ended as a draw.
The Young Osprey were first on the scoreboard with a try from impressive full back Tom Prydie (pictured). After that No. 8 Dan Baker (pictured scoring) capped another impressive performance by running in a try from 22 metres; Pridey converted for a lead of 12 points to nil after 20 minutes. At this stage it would have been easy for the Blues South to fold as they had done in the previous fixture between the teams. However, they didn't and No. 8 Reuben Tucker charged down a Young Osprey clearance kick and scored a try. This was followed quickly by a try for prop Mike Savery and the Young Ospreys only led by 12 points to 10 at the interval despite being the dominant force. Ironically, of late the Young Osprey under 16 team have thrown away leads when at the start of the season they were coming strong in the second half and winning matches through it. They did get on the scoresheet first as wing Bryan Barlow (pictured scoring), who has a poachers eye for the try line, grabbed his usual try. Unfortunately for the Young Ospreys they conceeded a second try to Savery and replacement outside half Diggy Bird converted. This result keeps the Young Ospreys in contention for a Reebok Final place but they will certainly need to beat the Blues North, when the game is re-arranged, if they are going to have any hope of acheiving that goal. Photographs provided by David Dow of Dragon Tales.