The Eyasses have enjoyed a short visit to the Aldershot Army Barracks, culminating in a double-header fixture against their counterparts from the Saracens Academy.
The three-day trip brought together the Ospreys U16 and U18 squads together into an environment where they could spend quality time together working on their plays and tactics, as well as getting to know each other better personally, ahead of the start of the new Regional Age Grade Championship later this month.
After spending two nights at the barracks, the group moved on to Old Albanians RFC in St Albans, where they faced two testing games against Saracens.
The U16’s were first up, and they raced into an early 21-5 lead, only for their hosts to claw their way back into the game, eventually winning 41-26, with the Ospreys points coming through tries from Jamie Davies, Joe Thomas and Dan Brooks (2), while Joe Thomas also kicked three conversions.
They were followed by the U18’s, who were narrowly defeated by just the one score, Saracens claiming a 32-25 victory, the Eyasses tries coming from Sam Davies, Ashleigh Evans, Sam Grabbam, and Matthew Jenkins.
Ospreys Development Coach Ioan Cunningham, who led the trip, commented:
“It was an excellent few days which will really benefit us ahead of the new season. Saracens provided us with a really tough test, which is exactly what we needed at this stage, and our players performed well throughout. I was particularly impressed by the maturity shown by the group towards their training and classroom workshop, something that definitely bodes well for their progress in the coming season.”
The Ospreys would like to thank Dai Davies from the Army for his assistance in organising the facilities for the trip.