The under 18 group with the Young Ospreys continue with the winning habit.
Good News for Phillips
Centre Kristian Phillips has certainly experienced the highs and lows in his rugby career so far; last season he was frustrated as injury prevented him from playing during the first months of the season, but he later demonstrated the talent that earned him an International place. Therefore after a superb off season during which time he has trained unhindered, last night (Wednesday) was a huge disappointment as it looked as if he had done serious damage to his shoulder, while making an outstanding tackle during the Young Ospreys under 18 match with the Dragons at AbertilleryPark. However, the good news was that the doctors at the hospital gave him the all clear and hopefully he’ll be ready to return to action within a couple of weeks.
When Phillips left the field on 20 minutes, to be replaced by the impressive Sam Soul, the Young Ospreys were down by 3 points to nil as they were unable to convert their territorial advantage into points. That changed when hooker Dean Ronan stole a strike at the scrum and No 8 Rory Pitman attacked a disorganised defence. Eventually the ball was spun to wing Ryan Bayliss whose exceptional speed took him to the corner for a try; outside half Daniel Biggar kicked an excellent conversion for a lead that the Young Ospreys would not relinquish. Biggar added a penalty before perfectly judging a miss pass to centre Ashley Beck who then crossed for his teams second try. Biggar’s conversion and a further penalty gave the Young Ospreys a convincing 20 points to 3 lead at the interval.
Unfortunately the second half was a scrappy affair with neither side able to convert their opportunities into tries; however, in fairness to both teams some of the failures occurred because of the commitment to defence. Outside half Danny Ellis kicked his second penalty for the Dragons to give them the first score in the second half before No 8 Pitman, finished off the best move of the night as the young Ospreys sped the ball one way then the other. Biggar converted to give himself a 12 point total for the evening, but the team will be somewhat disappointed that they didn’t get a further try and therefore a bonus, when they were definitely capable of it.