The Blues came to Ospreylia knowing that they needed to win in order to book their place in the Reebok Final; however, the Young Ospreys certainly weren't in the mood for giving away any early Christmas Presents.
The Blues could feel hard done by in that despite putting a great deal of effort into a keenly contested match, they were on the losing side by 22 points to 3. Instrumental in the Young Ospreys success was the the return of Rhys Ruddock, pictured passing to flanker Guy Jones (pictures courtesy of daveatdragontales@ntlworld.com;). Rhys was more fortunate in captaining his troops to success where his brother Ciaran failed in the same role on Tuesday against the Blues under 20's at Barry's, Jenner Park. The Young Ospreys scored tries through Matthew Jarvis (pictured scoring), Chris Banfield and Gareth Jenkins (pictured on the left with his fellow front row forwards Ceri Davies and Jo Rees); Jarvis added two conversions and a penalty. Next week is a busy week in the Academy with three fixtures taking place. On Wednesday (5th December) the under 16's return to Skewen RFC for a 5pm kick off against North Wales. Head Coach Alex Evans has rung the changes to ensure that none of the 17 players selected for National Squad Training will be involved. On the same night (7.15pm kick off at Aberavon RFC) the under 18's will complete their domestic programme hoping to remain unbeaten at the top of the Reebok League Table. Finally on Thursday 6th December the under 20's take the long road down to Narberth RFC to complete their Reebok League Programme in a fixture with the Scarlets. Garin Jenkins' team have a 4 point lead over their opponents so a win will guarantee them second place in the Reebok League which would take them through to the Final and another opportunity to upstage the Blues. However, if the Scarlets were to win comfortably with a bonus point, it would be the first time that Jenkins will have failed to qualify for a Reebok Final.