All three Scarlets Regional Age Grade teams were in action this week, starting with the U18s facing Ospreys away at Aberavon on Tuesday evening.
The 16s West team welcomed Blues South to Tenby on Wednesday night, while the East team travelled to Ystrad Mynach to take on Dragons Black.
U18s were looking to bounce back from their loss to the Blues the previous week, but unfortunately the game didn’t go their way and they finished with a 20-10 defeat, despite a try on the stroke of half-time by prop Sam O’Connor.
Here’s the game summary
16’ SCARLETS Penalty – Jac Tregoning 0-3
21’ Ospreys TRY & CON 7-3
33’ SCARLETS TRY Sam O’Connor & CON Jac Tregoning 7-10
HT 7-10
41’ Ospreys TRY & CON 14-10
52’ Yellow Card – Sam O’Connor
52’ Ospreys Penalty – 17-10
62’ Ospreys Penalty – 20-10
FT 20-10
It was the U16s’ chance to shine on Wednesday. The West welcomed Blues South to Tenby RFC and it was the visitors who dominated the first half with three tries.
The Scarlets fought back just before the break with Harry Fuller crossing for a try and with a few fresh faces off the replacements bench added another try through Lucca Setaro, which was converted by Josh Hathaway to bring the score to 17-12. However, it was the Blues who had the final word to hold out off a determined home side.
Tim Poole, West Head Coach spoke after the game said; “I’m very proud of all the players last night, putting in a big physical shift against a very strong Blues South Team. We will take the learnings from last night, and put them into practice in readiness for the Dragons Red next week.”
WEST v Blues South
5’ BLUES TRY 0-5
20’ BLUES TRY & CON 0-12
32’ BLUES TRY 0-17
35’ SCARLETS TRY Harry Fuller 5-17
HT 5-17
38’ SCARLETS Lucca Setaro & CON Josh Hathaway 12-17
55’ BLUES TRY 12-22
FT 12-22
The East team were welcomed by Dragons South at the Center of Sporting Excellence at Ystrad Mynach.
They were also looking for a chance to regroup and get to grips with the second phase of the Championship and that’s exactly what they did.
Scarlets East hit the ground running thanks to a try by back-rower Cian Trevelyan, converted by full-back Luke Davies.
With the Scarlets well on top, three further tries were added by scrum-half Ifan Davies, No. 8 Luca Giannini and centre and captain Iestyn Gwiliam – all converted by Davies – to secure a 28-5 half-time lead.
The Dragons added a second try to threaten a comeback at the start of the second half, but the Scarlets East put their foot to the pedal after that and added two more tries through centre Harrison Griffiths and another by Giannini to seal a comprehensive 40-19 victory.
Alun Jones, East head coach said: “It was a very pleasing performance. We have worked hard to develop our game in accordance with the way in which the region have evolved this year. It was great to see the boys put that into practice on the field and give maximum effort.
“We played an open and expansive game despite challenging conditions early on. Whilst we still have a lot to work on and aspects to develop further, we feel that the group are growing. The Dragons provided a warm welcome as always and kept a tough contest going until the end.”
EAST v Dragons South
10’ SCARLETS TRY Cian Trevelyan & CON Luke Davies 0-7
20’ DRAGONS TRY 5-7
30’ SCARLETS TRY Ifan Davies & CON Luke Davies 5-14
32’ SCARLETS TRY Luca Giannini & CON Luke Davies 5-21
35’ SCARLETS TRY Iestyn Gwiliam & CON Luke Davies 5-28
HT 5-28
37’ DRAGONS TRY & CON 12-28
SCARLETS TRY Harrison Griffiths & CON Luke Davies 12-35
SCARLETS Luca Giannini TRY 12-40
DRAGONS TRY & CON 19-40
FT 19-40
Upcoming Matches
Scarlets U18s v RGC – Sunday 2nd February – KO 14:30 – Parc y Scarlets Training Pitch
Scarlets East v Ospreys East – Wednesday 5th February – KO 19:15 – Parc y Scarlets Main Pitch
Scarlets West v Dragons Black – Wednesday 5th February – KO 19:15 – Tenby RFC