Tom Phillips’ side notched 27 tries and 179 points as they breezed past Cardiff (51-19), Dragons (50-14), RGC (24-6) and Ospreys (54-5) to take top seeding or the semi-finals on Sunday 16 February.
Leading the charge for the reigning champions were the back division, who accounted for 18 of the 27 tries. Centre Gryff Watkins and full back Sion Jones have each scored four times and wing Thomas Williams has grabbed three to date.
Now they face their first opponents, Cardiff, back at the same Church Bank venue in Llandovery at which they put them away with seven tries in their opening encounter. Cardiff only managed one win in their four games, beating RGC at home 46-22 in their second game.
They then fell by two points in an 11 try thriller against the Ospreys in Bridgend before being pipped by three against arch-rivals the Dragons at the Arms Park in their last outing. Now they have to return to Llandovery to meet the rampant Scarlets once again to bid for a place in the final, which will take place on Tuesday 25 February in the Welsh capital.
“We were disappointed with our performance against Scarlets, even though it was a game we started well. Then we began making back-to-back errors and the penalty count kept growing, which allowed them to piggy-back up the pitch and imprint their game,” said Cardiff U18 head coach Josh Turnbull.
“There were glimpses of what we can go when we got our game right in both attack and defence in that first game against Scarlets. We showed we can cause teams’ problems and the challenge now is to cut down the errors and penalties so we don’t feed the opposition.
“The attitude in training since has been excellent and we’ve seen a number of players stepping up to play in the Super Rygbi Cymru Cup with Cardiff RFC. That gave us an opportunity to look at other members of our squad who have been working hard over the course of the competition.”
Scarlets head coach Tom Phillips is now targeting back-to-back titles and ensuring his side plays two more games to reach their ultimate goal and hold onto their title.
“It has been a good block and it has been nice to win – we like winning. But the good thing is the number of players we have been able to expose and give game time to,” said Phillips.
“The biggest positive for us over the four games has been to see how the players have developed. There are two more games to go, and the more games we can get into these boys at a regional level the better.
“We’ve parked the first four games and we know that anything can happen in knock out rugby. We’ve played Cardiff once already so we’ll have some footage to look back on, but we are expecting it to be a completely different game this time.
“The U18 team is a building block for players who want to go on to become professionals.”
The second semi-final will be between Ospreys and Dragons. The Ospreys won their pool encounter 32-17, with outside half Logan Jones scoring 17 points.
The only defeat for the Ospreys came in their west Wales derby clash with Scarlets, when a much-changed team conceded eight tries in a 54-5 defeat. The Dragons beat both RGC and Cardiff.
The two semi-final winners will contest the final at the Arms Park on Tuesday 25 February.
REGIONAL ACADEMIES U18 TABLE
| Scarlets | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Ospreys | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Dragons | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Cardiff | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| RGC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
RESULTS
09 February: Cardiff 26 – 29 Dragons; Scarlets 54 – 5 Ospreys
02 February: Ospreys 42 – 40 Cardiff; RGC 8 – 24 Scarlets
26 January: Dragons 12 – 50 Scarlets; Ospreys 17 – 14 RGC
19 January: RGC 12 – 40 Dragons; Scarlets 51 – 19 Cardiff
12 January: Cardiff 46 – 22 RGC; Ospreys 32 – 17 Dragons
Semi-final round – Sunday Feb 16 at Llandovery RFC
Scarlets v Cardiff, 1pm
Ospreys v Dragons, 3.30pm
