Scarlets Girls U18’s 33
Ospreys Girls U18s 5

Try Time: The Scarlets dive over the line (Pic. Riley Sports)

A RAFT of talented girls from across Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire helped the Scarlets Under 18’s get the defence of their regional championship title off to an excellent start on Sunday in Nantgaredig RFC by running in 5 tries and recording a bonus point win over a much improved Ospreys outfit 33 points to 5.

The girls in red opened their account after 3 minutes when, after excellent interplay between forwards and backs, centre Carly Jones broke through the opposition defence to score near the posts. Back rower Lleucu George duly converted the try.

Any thought that this game might be a one sided affair ended when from the kick off Ospreys burst into action and after an intense period of pressure the visiting supporters were duly rewarded when influential captain, Kelsey Jones, powered through the Scarlets defence to score a well-deserved try.

The Ospreys girls were ferocious in the contact area, turning the Scarlets ball over and putting the visitors once again on the front foot. Only resolute defence on the part of the home team held the visitors at bay. Indeed the next score registered was totally against the run of play, when Scarlets captain Bethan Lewis, managed to force an interception and show a good turn of speed and race away to score from 60m out. Scrum Half Lucy Packer adding the extras.

This score seemed to settle the home team and they finally started putting some phases together forcing the Ospreys to concede a penalty at the ruck. The Scarlets opted to kick it into the corner, and from the resulting lineout the home team set up an excellent driving maul. As the Ospreys committed more and more players to try and stem the diving maul, the ball was spun along the reds back line for Full back Delun Allcock to score an excellent try, George converting the try to give the Scarlets a half time lead of 21 points to 5.

The Ospreys started the second half with renewed vigour and once again put the home team under extreme pressure, but to their credit the Scarlets girls held firm and started to counter the threat that the visitors posed. Once again the Reds reverted to the phase play that had proved so successful at the end of the first half and were duly rewarded when Whitland speedster, Megan Davies was put clear. With the line seemingly at her mercy an excellent last-ditch tackle hauled her down. However, from the resulting ruck, the Ospreys were once again caught off side and some quick thinking by No 9 Lucy Packer saw her evade several tackles to score a great individual try and secure the bonus point for her team.

The Scarlets were now dominating the set piece and playing all their rugby on the front foot. Four minutes later, Allcock was fed the ball midway inside the Ospreys half and she duly raced away from the cover defence to record her second and the Scarlet’s 5th try of the day. At this point the Scarlets bench was emptied in order to give all the players some valuable game time.

With eight minutes left on the clock, Ospreys prop, Georgia Rossi, suffered an injury and the game was brought to a premature end.

The Scarlets will be extremely pleased with their days work. Pembrokeshire duo, Katie Thicker and Carys Lloyd were outstanding throughout as was Loosehead prop Gwenllian Prys. But credit must be given to the whole Ospreys outfit and to the significant progress and improvement they have made since last season.

Speaking after the game, Scarlets head coach Daryl Morgan said:

“The Ospreys have really grown and developed as a squad. They have some very talented players and they’re going to be a real handful to the other regions as the season goes on.

“It’s almost a relief to get the first game out of the way, today has given us a great foundation to build on for the rest of the season. I’m really pleased with the way the girls settled into the game after a bit of a rocky start. There was a lot of nerves before kick-off and there’s no doubt they impacted on the way we started the game, if anything, in the early stages we were trying too hard. But the players got back to what we’ve been working on in training and I’m really happy to come away with the win”

Next Weekend sees the Senior Women’s Regional Championship begin with The Scarlets taking on The Dragons in Whitland RFC, kick-off 2.30pm

TEAM:

15. Delun Allcock (Ammanford) 14. Katie Thicker (Haverfordwest) 13. Carly Jones (Ammanford) 12. Libby Jones (Welshpool) 11. Megan Davies (Whitland) 10. Megan Beech (Carmarthen Quins) 9. Lucy Packer (Ammanford) 8. Nia Walters (Whitland) 7. Bethan Lewis (captain) (Carmarthen Quins) 6. Lleucu George (Whitland) 5. Carys Lloyd (Pembroke Dock) 4. Catrin Rees (Ammanford) 3. Ruby Roberts (Nant Conwy) 2. Lauren Morgan (Whitland) 1. Gwenllian Pry (Nant Conwy)

Replacements:

16. Aeysha Fairclough (Ammanford) 17. Billy Joe Alexander (Ammanford) 18. Nicole Davies (Whitland) 19. Teresa Evans (Carmarthen Quins) 20. Megan Williams (Ammanford) 21. Sioned Phillips (Caernarfon) 22. Ffion Howells (Pembroke Dock) 23. Maisie Mackenzie (Ammanford)