United Rugby Championship: Ospreys 21-38 Cardiff - Young stars in comfortable win

Cardiff won the Welsh Shield as the highest placed team from Wales in United Rugby Championship

Thomas Young brushed aside speculation over his father's future to inspire a comfortable Cardiff win over Ospreys.

Young scored two tries and created another as Cardiff won a place in next season's Heineken Champions Cup.

Max Llewellyn and Mason Grady also crossed while Sam Parry, Gareth Thomas and Dewi Lake responded for Ospreys in the second half.

But it was too late to give Alun Wyn Jones a winning send off in what is likely his final game at this level.

Victory saw Cardiff lift the Welsh Shield and with it a place in European rugby's top club competition next season.

However, that title was over-shadowed by alleged conduct complaints against director of rugby Dai Young who was absent from the Principality Stadium.

The suspension, announced to the players little more than 24 hours earlier, could have been a distraction for Cardiff but it proved a galvanising factor, especially for his son.

Flanker Young was inspired in the first half, scoring the opening try, creating another and was denied a second of his own by a marginal forward pass as Cardiff dominated.

Whether it was the suspension, an appearance by their popular retiring team-mate Josh Navidi as a guest stadium DJ before kick-off or a bust up in the tunnel before kick-off, Cardiff were inspired.

There has long been a mutual dislike between these rivals and hostilities resumed even before kick-off when rival captains Josh Turnbull and Nicky Smith squared up in the tunnel following an alleged earlier row over the coin toss.

Hopes among the 41,000 crowd that the action on the pitch would match that off it were soon satisfied.

Grady was denied an early try by Luke Morgan's last-ditch tackle and then fumbled a second opportunity after Jarrod Evans' raking pass. How Cardiff will miss their Harlequins-bound fly-half next season.

However Grady would not be denied a third time as Cardiff hit Ospreys for three tries in seven minutes midway through the first half.

Young snuck over from Turnbull's initial burst before Tomos Williams caught Ospreys off-guard with a quickly-taken penalty and sent Llewellyn racing under the posts with a perfectly-timed pass.

Alun Wyn Jones waved to the crowd as he left what could be his last Ospreys game

Rhys Webb had led out Ospreys on his 200th club appearance but his misplaced reverse pass in midfield was expertly scooped up one-handed by Young without missing a step on the run.

The flanker hacked the ball up field, the signal for Grady to flick the switch, racing past defenders to gather and score in the corner for a 21-0 half-time lead.

• Morgan 'time out' from rugby over mental health

• Navidi retires over 'serious neck injury'

Ospreys rallied in the second half but could not prevent Cardiff hitting back each time they scored.

Front rows Parry, his replacement Lake and prop Thomas all scored from close range.

But Young latched onto a pass off the deck by player of the match Williams to run half the length of the field to score his second.

Prop Rhys Carre went over late on and Rhys Priestland signed off his Cardiff career with a perfect six kicks from six to wrap up their biggest win over Ospreys in six years.

Cardiff captain Josh Turnbull said:

"It was a great way to finish the season. We were all surprised by what happened [to Dai Young] but we just continued to focus on what we had to do and enjoy the occasion.

"There were 10 boys in that 23 who were leaving or retiring at the end of the season. This performance was about them.

"For me it was quite easy to say let's stick to task and carry on doing what we need to do and qualify for the Champions Cup."

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said:

"It's a very disappointing end to what has been a very difficult season which leaves a massively sour taste in the mouth.

"We lost the breakdown, the collisions and when you give away so many penalties, it's very hard to come back from.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and showed a bit of character to wrestle things back but it was too late."

Ospreys: Michael Collins; George North, Keiran Williams, Owen Williams, Luke Morgan; Gareth Anscombe, Rhys Webb; Nicky Smith (capt), Sam Parry, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Rhys Davies, Dan Lydiate, Morgan Morris.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Tom Botha, Huw Sutton, Ethan Roots, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Harri Doel, Max Nagy.

Cardiff: Rhys Priestland; Mason Grady, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Jason Harries; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher, Keiron Assiratti, James Ratti, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull (capt), Thomas Young, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Rhys Carré, Dillon Lewis, Teddy Williams, James Botham, Lloyd Williams, Ben Thomas, Harri Millard

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Gareth Newman & Gwyn Morris (WRU

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)