Ospreys left frustrated by hungry Blues
Ospreys U18's 13- 23 Cardiff Blues U18's
The Ospreys U18's were left frustrated as a hungry Blues outfit travelled to Llandarcy and deservedly came away with a 23-13 victory.
After afternoon showers and a game 24 hours previously all credit to the groundstaff for a perfect pitch and the conditions were glorious for the kick off between keen regional rivals.
The Blues started the stronger and dominated possession for the first 10 minutes but without troubling the scorers, indeed the first real opportunity came the Ospreys way with fullback Tom Prydie sparking a great counter attack that was taken on by centre Ben John only for the move to be snuffed out in the corner. However the Blues capitalised on a bad pass in midfield by hacking through and winning a penalty on the 22 which outside half Diggy Bird converted for a 3-0 lead.
The Blues were beginning to gain further ascendancy, notably winning the collisions and the breakdown area, and from sustained pressure eventually gained a second kickable penalty which Bird duly put over; 6-0 Blues. Nevertheless, immediately from the restart a clearance kick was charged down and taken on by hard working flanker Mike Sully who put a scoring pass in to second row Ben Thomas, the try converted by Prydie for a 7-6 lead to the young Ospreys.
The Blues came roaring back and capped further pressure with another penalty from Bird, to compound the Ospreys problems hooker Gareth Harvey was yellow carded for persistent team infringements at the breakdown. Despite this the Ospreys then went on to have their best period of the match and gained reward through two well taken penalties by Prydie for a 13-9 half time lead.
The lead was short lived however as a speculative chip over the top immediately after the restart was plucked out of the air by winger Elliot Jones who galloped under the posts to regain the lead for the Blues 16-13 with Bird adding the extras. The Ospreys then added more pace to their game but some stubborn resistance by the Blues, allied to one- dimensional play and lack of patience, ensured that the Blues looked strong going into the final quarter.
A raft of substitutions were made by both sides but the Blues had the greater momentum and kept the ball admirably; Indeed, after moving the ball freely in the Osprey 22 they were eventually rewarded with a score by Harley Thompson that was goaled once again by Bird. This sealed a win for the away side by 23-13 and left the Osprey players and coaches with plenty of food for thought before the next round of fixtures.