The Scarlets Under 18s will be looking to get their winning show back on the road when they take on the Dragons in the WRU Age Grade Championship at Newbridge tomorrow night. After brushing aside the challenge of Gogledd Cymru on the opening day of the season, 41-0 in Llandovery, the Scarlets followed up with an 18-6 defeat at the hands of an outstanding Blues side at Parc y Scarlets.
However, they will hope to catch cold a Dragons side for whom this is their first outing of the new season. James Russell, who has 17 points to his name to date this season, plays at full back with Luke Treharne at outside half and the influential Curtis Morris locking out the scrum at no.8.
Meanwhile the Blues U18s will entertain Gogledd Cymru on Sunday, whilst at Under 16 level, North Wales are also in the South hoping to build on their impressive 34-24 bonus point victory over Blues North last weekend.
For the Blues North, it’s case of back to the drawing board after a disappointing defeat that yielded nothing more than a bonus point for scoring four tries, Team manager Nigel Way said; “It will be a tough ask for the boys to hold on to the trophy we lifted last year, but I think a defeat like this means we will be particularly focussed as we prepare for our next game. “Yes, it was good to score four tries, but having got back into the game in the second half, I thought we were going to go on and win it. We didn’t, so it’s back to work in preparation for the next game.”
Dragons U18: S Bevan; S Jones, A Cooper, L Bellamore, T Ashmead; M O’Brien, J Evans (capt); D Morgan, T Rusga, L Bacon, H Lewis, C Regan, M Thomas, J Sollis, L Burgess. Replacements: J Williams, D Newlands, B Hill, A Herbert, K Griffiths, G Kemp, A Hughes
Scarlets under 18: J Russell; G North, L Williams, R James, G Hunter; L Treharne, A Davies; N Bowen, K Myhill, S Lee, L Hamilton (capt), J Gardner, R Bloomfield, O Powell, C Morris. Replacements: J Kayjacks, G Thomas, D George, L Morris, R Williams, A Powell, P Rushesha
