U16s Edged Out by Ospreys

RGC U.16 17 OSPREYS WEST U.16 24

It was heartbreak for the RGC U.16 side as they went down to a penalty try, awarded with almost the last play of the game, against a classy Ospreys West outfit. It was the visitors who started best and they opened the scoring after only 5 minutes through their winger George Dunn, and they were to go further ahead in the 21st minute via full-back Alex Hughes. Being 12 points down ( the Ospreys opening try had been converted by their outside half Dan Edwards ) it was imperative that RGC were next on the score-board and just behalf half-time they were rewarded for their efforts when a break by centre Finlay Hare was finished off by their full-back, Sam Stoddard, and with Carwyn Jones adding the extras the half ended with the Ospreys West side holding a narrow 12 points to 7 lead. 5 minutes into the second half replacement winger Peter Pattenden with almost his 1st touch dotted down in the right hand corner and although Jones narrowly missed the conversion attempt the scores were tied at 12 a piece. The Ospreys powerful outside centre Iestyn Lewis was next to cross the whitewash but his effort was soon cancelled out by RGC replacement prop Rhys Jones who was the first to capitalise on a dropped Ospreys pass on the halfway line and having kicked on the loose pass it was he who benefited from the subsequent mistake from the Ospreys cover defence to touch the ball-down. Both sides had chances to win the game in the last 10 minutes of the game but with less than a minute to go RGC were adjudged to have killed the ball close to their try-line and the referee immediately marched under the posts to award a penalty try. All that remained was for the Ospreys to safely collect the restart and kick the ball into touch with the final act of the game. Speaking after the match finished, RGC 16s Head Coach Gav Hodgkinson found it hard to hide his disappointment, ' Its hard enough being the Coach and losing a game to a penalty try in the last minute but how I feel is nothing compared to the emotions I am sure currently being felt by the players. Coming back from being 12-0 down, and it could have been more, against such a strong Ospreys side showed a huge amount of character and not a little skill which makes losing in the manner that we did all the harder to take. We were by no means perfect ,particularly early on, but once the players began to believe in themselves they showed from 1-23 that they are more than capable of competing at this level. We have one more game left in this years RAG Competition, against the Scarlets West Under 16s, back on the 4g at Eirias ( KO 2 pm ), and we will be looking to finish the campaign on a positive note.'