Ospreys fight back to defeat Blues North
Ospreys fight back to defeat Blues North
Under 16 Blues North 23 – Ospreys 27
Wednesday 9th November 7-15 pm kick off, Abercynon RFC
Looking for their 3rd win on the bounce the Blues North entertained a confident Ospreys XV at a very wet Abercynon RFC.
Thankfully the pre match rain, that had soaked the pitch, held off for most of the match bar a few heavy showers.
The Blues started strongly and following a bout of excellent handling by the Blues backs winger Thomas Davies raced over to open the Blues account. However, this stung the visitors into attack and following a clever raid into the Blues 22 powerful centre Joe Thomas crashed over in the corner to open the Ospreys account.
The game was a real arm wrestle up front with both packs endeavouring to get on top following a misdemeanour at ruck time the ever reliable Luke Price edged the visitors ahead.
The ping pong nature of the game continued when wing Morgan Raison dived over on 17 minutes to regain the lead. This was followed by a bout of ascendency for the home pack leading to tries by prop Bleddyn Griffiths and hardworking number 8 Hemi Barnes.
Outsidehalf Corey Shephard improved both and the Blues were in the driving seat at 24 – 8 after just over half an hour’s play.
Then the Blues committed the cardinal sin of conceding a try just before half time when full back Lewis Evans plunged over for Luke Price to convert.
Half time Under 16 Blues North 23 – Ospreys 15
After a dominant first half, the Blues struggled in the second half finding the elements a major problem as they played into the teeth of a gale. Centre Martyn Davies scored a try on 44 minutes from another smash and grab style raid for the visitors.
Although continuing to be competitive the Blues struggled to come to terms with the onslaught and conceded the decisive score on 58 minutes when full back Lewis Evans scored his second and the Ospreys 4th try of the night to match their hosts 4 tries.
With Luke Price dictating play at 10 with an astute kicking game the Ospreys remained on the front foot despite the closeness of the final margin. Despite a valiant effort the Blues had come up short by a narrow four point margin with failure to score in the second half.
Blues North Head Coach, Adrian Evans, said,
“We said that this game would be a measure of our progress as a squad and whilst we have made some great improvement, disappointingly we weren’t able build on our dominant first half performance and take the win.”
“The second half got away from us as we lost field position and structure and allowed the Ospreys back into the game.”