Wales U17 46 Wasps U17 44

Wales U17: 46 Wasps U17: 44

Images courtesy of Clive Jones PR. 

Wales Under 17s took on their counterparts from Wasps in a curtain-raiser friendly prior to the Celtic Dragons v Wasps superleague game on Saturday 9 June.

It was an absolute thriller as Wales got off to a very shaky start, at point being turned over at will by the visitors. After the first fifteen minutes there was plenty for Cymru to do as they trailed by 7 goals. The second quarter saw Wales take far better care of the ball and front-up to the physicality of their opponents. Slowly and steadily, they ate into the Wasps lead and the game tightened up. 

It was in the third quarter that Welsh passion and pride really started to flaunt itself. Wales netted goal after goal as the visitors became completely outclassed. Wales’ finesse and accuracy saw the team quickly overtake their opposition and it was great to see the players with smiles on their faces as they smashed home the advantage. The quarter time whistle came as a huge relief to Wasps as Wales went ahead by 5 having won the period 15-6. 

The final quarter was the most tense by far. Goals were exchanged in kind for the first five minutes as Wales started to watch the minutes tick down. However, some nervousness started to creep in and Wasps narrowed the gap. The visitors had the chance to level the scores with a minute to go, only for the ball to rebound into Welsh hands. Wales kept their composure in the last few seconds to win a shade cosily by two goals in what was a magnificent display of age-grade netball.

Quarter scores: 7-15 (7-15); 15-11 (22-26); 15-6 (37-32); 9-12 (46-44).