Ospreys Rugby are delighted to announce that highly rated hooker Scott Otten has signed his first professional contract.
Otten, who turns 20 later this month, has been handed a three-year deal which runs until the summer of 2017 after breaking into the senior squad at the region in the latter stages of this season. His debut came off the bench in a 34-9 win over Cardiff Blues at the Liberty Stadium in March and he featured three more times as a replacement before the end of the season.
He signs his first pro deal just months after loose head prop Nicky Smith, who has been alongside Otten in the front row all the way along the development pathway from Waunarlwydd RFC and Pentrehafod Comprehensive School in Swansea, through the District set-up and regional and international age-grade structure.
He has featured regularly for Swansea RFC over the last two seasons, playing 36 times, and has just returned from the Junior World Championship in New Zealand where he featured four times for Wales U20.
Speaking after putting pen to paper, Otten said:
“This is an exciting time for me and I’m proud to have signed a professional contract with my home region. I’ve had an incredible few months, with making my senior debut in the PRO12 and going to New Zealand with Wales, but I’ve got to keep my feet on the ground and work hard to make sure it doesn’t all go to waste.
“The Ospreys have always had a lot of strength in depth in the front row and have developed lots of Welsh internationals so I know I’m in the right place for my career. My goal now has to be to establish myself in the senior group and hopefully get more game time over the next couple of seasons. It’s going to be tough, there are good hookers in the squad, but with the help of the coaches at the Ospreys hopefully I’ll be able to keep developing on and off the field.”
Andy Lloyd, Recruitment and Retention Manager, welcomed the news that Otten has become the latest Ospreys player to sign a new contract this year, saying:
“Scott has made an excellent impression in and around the environment and his first professional deal is a well earned reward for him. He has an outstanding work ethic, is extremely diligent, always looking to improve himself which is what we expect from all players who are fortunate enough to wear an Ospreys jersey, regardless of age.
“Knowing Scott’s personality he will want to be in and around the first team this season and that has to be his target. His performances at the back end of the season were outstanding, particularly up in Glasgow when he was thrown in at the deep end, and they would have made people outside of the Ospreys sit up and take notice.
“He’s still got a lot to learn, he’s inexperienced and is particularly young for a hooker, but his work ethic is second to none. That is essential if is he is going to establish himself in the group fully over the duration of this contract.
“He’s another one who has come through our system, so again the credit goes to the development arm of the business for the outstanding work they are doing to drive the Ospreys forward.
The time, effort and financial investment we have put into that area over the last few years is really starting to show the fruits of our labour.
“You look at people like Scott, Nicky Smith, Dan Suter, Sam Davies, who have all broken through over the last year, then we have another crop bubbling just below that. It’s really exciting to see these young men coming through the system. We are really proud as an organisation to be developing young talent from the region like this, a feeling that our supporters will share no doubt.”
In total, 16 Ospreys players have signed a new contract this year, while a further six new signings for next season have been confirmed to date. Meanwhile, flanker Lloyd Evans (Bridgend) and centre Aled Jenkins (Swansea) have been rewarded for their form in the Premiership with their first development contracts and seven local youngsters have also been promoted into the B Group, signing development contracts as they progress along the regional development pathway from the Ospreys age-grade set-up.