Under 16's Qualify For Reebok Final

The under 16 Young Osprey group qualified for their Reebok Final by beating the Gwent Dragons by 11 points to nil at St Helens, Swansea RFC last night (Monday 20^th March). By doing so they ensured that all three age grade teams (under 16's, 18's and 20's) play in their respective Finals. Last season the Young Ospreys had two runner up spots in the Finals and already they have surpassed that with the under 18's winning their Final in early January; hopefully the 16's and 20's will follow suit.

Last nights game was a tough encounter between two evenly matched teams with the result in doubt until the last five minutes. The Dragons were first out of the blocks and dominated play for the first ten minutes, however, a well organised and committed defence from the Young Ospreys kept them to one kickable penalty attempt which went astray. Playing against a strong breeze in the first half the Young Ospreys only managed to create a couple of chances themselves, the best of which saw No 8 Rory Pitman run a training field move with centre Ashley Beck, who was then brought down inches from the try line; a desperate Dragons defence however managed to save the day. A thoroughly entertaining first half ended scoreless.

The Young Ospreys came out knowing that they had a stiff breeze behind them and the need to use it to play the game in their opponents half of the field. Their endeavours were eventually rewarded with a try after hooker Joe Beddow took one against the head at the scrum and No 8 Pitman picked up and threw a well judged miss pass to centre Kristian Phillips who sped over untouched. Further and constant pressure by the Young Ospreys led to the Dragons conceding a number of penalties two of which were kicked by outside half Daniel Biggar; the second of which was all of 55 metres. Try as they may neither side was able to add to the scorecard as defences once again dominated the last ten minutes of the match.

In September the Dragons were deserved victors by 13 points to 12 in a scrappy affair. However, last nights match had moved up several notches in quality level and is a huge tribute to the young players and their coaches.