Blues Forwards Coach, Justin Burnell, sees Saturday’s game as chance for many of the Blues Academy players to display their rugby ability.
Speaking ahead of the match Burnell said, “The match is a massive opportunity for some of our youngsters to show what they are capable of, especially as we aim to move the region forward, bringing youngsters through into our senior squad.
“They have been training up at the Vale of Glamorgan training centre this week and I’ve been very impressed with a lot of the youngsters who are in our national under 20’s squad.”
“The likes of Cory Hill, Macauley Cook and Lewis Smout have huge potential. There are some very good youngsters coming up through our system, so we are very excited about that.”
“When you look at some of the players we have had in our Academy: Sam Warburton, Jamie Roberts, Bradley Davies, you see a lot of similarities with players coming through, which is hugely encouraging.”
“With some players you can definitely see the potential at an early age and this match gives us the chance to see how they come through in the live environment.”
“At the moment in training they are doing everything in the right manner, but they will obviously be put under pressure in a game and we will see how they react.”
“Whether it be the Under 16’s, 18’s or 20’s squads any game which involves the Blues versus the Ospreys there’s sure to be a massive rivalry and rightly so.”
“One of the good things about Welsh rugby is the rivalry and we have really got to keep the traditional derbies going.”
“There’s also a lot of pride at stake.”
Cardiff Blues 15 Dan Fish 14 Steve Taylor 13 Gavin Evans 12 Dafydd Hewitt (C) 11 Harry Robinson 10 Joe Griffin 9 Rhys Downes 8 Tom Brown 7 Josh Navidi 6 Luke Hamilton 5 Macauley Cook 4 Bryn Griffiths 3 Sam Hobbs 2 Kristian Dacey 1 Tom Davies
Replacements 16 Rhys Williams 17 Lewis Smout 18 Will Griff John 19 Cory Hill 20 Owen Sheppard 21 Lewis Jones 22 Lewis Williams 23 James Loxton
