Ospreys under 20s kicked their season off in style with a 27-16 victory over Scarlets in a fiercely contested local derby at Llandarcy last night, with David Griggs producing a standout performance at openside flanker for the hosts.
The visitors made the better start, dominating at the scrum and testing the Ospreys' cover defence, with wing Andrew Claypole just unable to gather his chip over the line. It was the hosts, however, that bagged the first points with Griggs crossing for his first try of the evening, burrowing over from close range. Outside half Corey Butler slotted the extras.
Scarlets' indiscipline at the ruck cost them shortly after as Butler fired home a penalty to give his side a 10-0 advantage.
The West Wales side immediately hit back, firstly through a James Russell penalty and then, after a sustained period of pressure, feisty scrum half Scott Maynard darted across the whitewash from a well-worked five metre scrum.
The parity in the score lasted only seconds as the Scarlets infringed from the restart with Butler stroking home the resultant penalty to give Ospreys a 13-10 lead at the interval.
After the break, the visitors came out firing on all cylinders and were rewarded with two quickfire penalties to seize the initative for the first time, 16-13.
With the Scarlets on top and pressing for another score, Griggs made a well-timed interception to race over and restore the Ospreys' lead. Captain Lloyd Thomas duly added the extras.
Still, the Llanelli side would not lay down and the Ospreys had to endure wave after wave of attack from their rivals, but after some great counter rucking, Griggs emerged with the ball to send replacement Ben Scott Thomas away for a well-taken touchdown, with Lloyd Thomas slotting the conversion to seal the win.
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