Under 20's Lose To The Blues

In their last fixture of the season a valiant effort by the Young Ospreys under 20's wasn't good enough to hold down a deserved Blues victory at St Helens in the Reebok Final.

Sam Kiley's men did get the first try of the match through back row forward Jon Jones and with a Leigh Halfpenny conversion, they led by 7 points to 3 for a long period of the first half. However, a lapse in the defensive organisation by the Young Ospreys led to a simple run in for Blues scrum half Tom Isaac; full back Kristian Baller's successful conversion when added to his earlier penalty gave the Blues a 10 - 7 interval lead. In the second half the Blues dominated territorially for long periods and it was sterling defence by the Young Ospreys that kept the Blues at bay. The prominant figure in that defence was Aberavon hooker Mark Breeze (pictured) who was playing his last game for the Young Ospreys. Eventually the Blues got themselves over the line courtesy of wing Mark Egan and a lead of 15 points to 7. Then the superb Halfpenny brought some life to the Young Ospreys when he went on a 50 metre weaving run from behind his own try line. Following this they created a few opportunities but lacked the composure on the evening to finish them off. It was then a case of brave defence by the Blues as the Ospreys were held up on their opponents try line. In this incident Blues 2nd Row Martin Al-Azzawi took a serious knock to the head (fully recovered now) and there was a hold up for 10 minutes. Unfortunately for the Young Ospreys it was the Blues who responded better to the stoppage and they added a try by No 8 Matthew Larsen, converted by Baller for a convincing 22 points to 7 victory.