A strong second half from the Ospreys West side away at Narberth RFC saw them continue their unbeaten run in this season's RAG competition
It was a game of two halves as the Under 16's from the Westof Ospreylia travelled to Narberth to take on the Scarlets West Side. Despite a determined performance from the visitors, neither team managed to get a single point on the scoreboard before the half time whistle. A more clinical and calm approach in the second half saw them gain a 24 point lead in the second half, only conceding in the final three minutes.
The two sides were incredibly well matched in the first quarter. Every attacking phase from both team being met with an equally strong defensive effort. Neither side made it into the other's 22 before the Ospreys finally broke through with more than ten minutes played. Their efforts spoilt by a knock on as they advanced towards the try line.
Buoyed by almost making the try line, the Ospreys were straight back on the attack and had chance after chance to get the first points on the board but couldn't make their efforts count. Tom Davies crashed over the line only to be held up and just a minute later a knock on spoilt a straight run in.
With some good handling the visitors kept up the pressure on the Scarlets and again battled their way over the try line, only to be held up for a second time. A quick ball from the 5m scrum had the Ospreys powering through the Scarlets defence before another knock on stopped them feet from the try line.
A yellow card for the Scarlets' Sion Colella should have made it easier for the Ospreys in the final few minutes of the first half but they still couldn't breach the Scarlets defence and the first half finished:
Ospreys West U16's 0 - 0 Scarlets West U16's
It was an entirely different start to the second half for the young Ospreys. With just two minutes on the clock they took advantage of their one man overlap and Harry Davies crossed over for the night's first try. James Eynon adding the extra two points with a successful conversion.
Five minutes later came try number two as Ben Cambriani intercepted a Scarlets pass and raced almost half the length of the pitch to put the ball down in the corner. The angle of the kick meaning Eynon's conversion attempt went just wide of the posts.
The home side had opportunities to test the Ospreys defence but couldn't find the necessary gap to bring themselves into the game. Instead it was the Ospreys West side that slipped through the Scarlets defence again, Tom Ham with another powerful run to score before replacement Cory Evans added a successful conversion.
Still in control, the visitors made fairly easy work of try number four. With ten minutes left in the game Callum Davies breached the Scarlets back line to score the Ospreys final points of the evening as Evans' conversion attempt missed its mark.
With just three minutes remaining, the Ospreys confident in their victory, slightly dropped off and the Scarlets took advantage to get their first score. They hammered the visitors try line before replacement Dafydd Llewellyn slid over to score.
As the clock went red the Scarlets launched another huge attack on the Ospreys defence. With a man down injured, the Ospreys couldn't hold them out and Matthew Washbourne powered over for the Scarlets. With Scott Lloyd missing both conversion attempts, the game finished:
FT: Ospreys West U16's 24 - 10 Scarlets West U16's
Head Coach, Dai Jones, commented on his teams win:
"I'm very pleased with the team's performance tonight, I think it's by far the best performance we've had this season and probably the best side we have played. We've got steadily better week on week but I think it was a bit of a step up again tonight which it had to be as they came out really strong. A lot of the things we have worked on such as the contact area have really improved.
I think we tried to overplay a bit in the first half but it's something that the boys will learn from. We spoke about it at half time, we were lucky we managed to get more chances in the second half and we put those ones away."
The Ospreys East Under 16's side were also in action against the Scarlets as they travelled to PYS to take on the Scarlets East team. Despite scoring two tries they couldn't keep out the home teams powerful attacks and lost their first match this year by 21 points to 10.