Dragons Under-18s produced a five-try display to defeat Ospreys at Ystrad Mynach’s Centre of Sporting Excellence and secure their first win of this years’ Academy U18s Championship.
Both sides were looking to bounce back following defeat against Cardiff but it was Dragons who started the brightest with a break from flanker Hadley Worgan leading to fly-half Kai Kinsey going close before captain Tiaan Hall went over.
At a packed CSE Ystrad Mynach, Ospreys hit back as Alfie Selby’s breakout eventually lead to opposite wing Dylan Quin being put clear, beating a couple of defenders to score.
Dragons U18s wing Ottis Mighten scored a hat-trick for the Under-17s side last week, but he turned provider here, with a superb slaloming run from his own 22 setting up scrum-half Jake Jenkins.
Ospreys hit back as repeated pressure from their driving maul told with tight-head Josh Drew going over.
After one wonder-try from their own 22m Dragons produced another on the stroke of half-time.
Worgan turned the ball over before the ball was fed to Jack Cordy who set up a break from Ellis Anderson and wing Theo McKerrow before Cordy was once again the link to put Jenkins away under the sticks for his brace.
Dragons U18s led 19-10 at half-time but it took a while for them to add a fourth try with the impressive Worgan and substitute Gethin Clarke both having tries disallowed before Hall was held up over the line.
Eventually the fourth try came when Worgan spun out of a tackle before freeing McKerrow with the winger doing superbly to finish in the corner.
Ospreys managed to reduce the lead with another try, again through the forwards, but after a good carry from Charlie Gregory, Dragons made sure of the win with Clarke going over.
Dragons U18s defence coach James Benjamin said: "Really pleasing for the boys to get their first win of the season.”
“We saw vast improvements from the Cardiff game and Scarlets game, especially in that contact area, and from my point of view defensively it was really pleasing.
“The amount of times we were able to get crucial turnovers and that allowed us to gain field position on a day where the game was a bit dictated by the wind and then we were able to take some of those opportunities.”
Next up, Dragons U18s travel to RGC on Sunday looking for back-to-back wins in the Academy U18s Championship.
Dragons Under-18s: Ellis Anderson; Ottis Mighten, Jack Cordy, Charlie Gregory, Theo McKerrow; Kai Kinsey, Jake Jenkins; Rudi Creel, Tiaan Hall (c), Ciaran Beavis, Jake Sheppard, Elliot Beavan, Gethin Tudball, Hadley Worgan, Troy Raymond.
Replacements: Benson Ngoshi, Harrison Flowers, Scott Crewe, Ashton Swain, Gethin Clarke, Felix Preece-Jones, Sam Morgan, Ryley Fussell.
We saw vast improvements from the Cardiff game and Scarlets game, especially in that contact area, and from my point of view defensively it was really pleasing.
