On a glorious autumn afternoon, Cockermouth and Keswick Ospreys battled their way to a fantastic win in Durham in the North Colts Typhoon League.
It followed a four-week break from competitive rugby and was played before the Regional 2 North game between Keswick and Durham.
The wide and expansive pitch was in perfect condition, and Durham made good use of ball to score two converted tries and a open up a 14-0 lead.
Not the start the Ospreys wanted, who travelled with just 15 players, but after rectifying some basic errors, the Ospreys began to ease their way into the game.
The home side had dominated the opening section of the game and could have pushed the scoreboard higher but for some outstanding defence across the team led by Alfie Wright in the pack and Logan Fowler in the backs which kept Durham out, and then Ospreys began to find momentum.
As the half progressed, the Ospreys turned up the heat and Zine Hodgson went over for their first try, converted by Max Carr.
That was followed by a try from Robbie Johnston who made a break from the half way line and, as the Durham defence closed in, managed to score in the corner, although a difficult conversion was missed.
With half time fast approaching, the Ospreys were dealt a cruel blow when very much against run of play Durham scored a well worked try to finish the first half up 19-12.
The Ospreys came out after the break with all guns blazing, setting up repeated attacks which were launched from inside their own 40, and showing high skill levels with excellent offloads and support, and scored four unanswered tries in a row, a second for Robbie Johnston and then from Carr, Logan Fowler and Seth Relph (with Seth playing his debut game and up an age group).
Conversions from Ashton Quigley and Carr gave the Ospreys a deserved lead of 19-34.
The second half was proving to be a thriller, contested by two good colts teams, and Durham were not finished yet and scored a converted try.
Alfie Wright pushed the Ospreys on and fuelled their attacking desire and Hodgson would complete the Ospreys try scoring display with a long ranger under the posts, converted by Carr 26-41.
Durham’s second try of the half made the final score 33-41, but the win went to the Ospreys.
The Ospreys are next in action against Novocastrians RFC U18s at Cockermouth RUFC on November 9, kick off 1pm.
