The WRU Reebok Regional Championships involved the four regions of Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets playing against each other at U18 and U20 levels. Five teams would be present at U16 level as the Cardiff Blues were split into 'North' and 'South' because of their population and size. The three championships kicked off on October 19th 2004. Each team would play six games each in the two elder age groups whilst eight matches each would be played in the U16 category. The pool stages of the U18 and U20 tournaments were scheduled to end on March 9th, whilst the U16 pool stage was to finish on April 26th. Three Grand Finals would follow the pool stages, with at least two scheduled to be played at the Millennium Stadium on the last weekend of April 2005.

The U20 championship also resulted in an excellent final after months of fantastic battles in the pool stage. The inaugural U20 competition commenced with the Ospreys hosting the Scarlets at the Talbot Athletic ground and the Dragons entertaining the Blues. The Scarlets opened the championship with an emphatic 36-10 victory in which they attained six tries; Stephen Davies and Ian Jones opened the try count with Liam Davies, Roger Davies, Andrew Williams and Luke Marsh cementing the Scarlet advantage. The Ospreys gained two tries through Aaron Bramwell and Matthew Jeffreys yet never threatened the Scarlet win.

Meanwhile, the Blues eased to a 24-7 win over the Dragons at Eugene Cross Park. Tries from Lloyd Ryland, Chris Clayton and Alex Murphy, together with the accuracy of Dai Flanagan’s boot, extended the Blues lead to twenty four points without reply. Gavin Ferguson gained a consolatory converted try for the Dragons before the close of the game.

The second round of the U20 tournament saw the Blues host the Ospreys at Sardis Road whilst the Scarlets took on the Dragons as they searched for their second successive victory. The Scarlets attained their goal as they easily defeated their visitors 38-7 at Stradey Park; Rhydian Thomas secured the first Scarlet try which was quickly followed up by a brace from Craig Evans and other scores from Stephen Davies, Ian Jones and David Halpin. Greg Callow notched a consolatory try for the Gwent region and converted his own score but this solo effort concluded the second successive Dragons’ loss in the championship. The Ospreys fought back from their opening loss to defeat the Blues in a closely fought match. The Blues secured tries though Adam Powell, Rhys Shellard and Tom Riley but the Ospreys replied in kind with efforts from James Hook, Tim Stephenson and Ben Lewis. A late penalty try proved decisive for the Ospreys as they ground out the 32-28 win.

The Scarlets and Blues met at Llandovery in round three as the Dragons faced the Ospreys. The Ospreys continued their winning form as they secured a 22-12 scoreline due to tries from James Dixon, Jonathan Spratt and Ross Cridland. The Ospreys led 17-0 at the break but tries from Phil Sergeant and Craig Jones reduced the deficit. Unfortunately this was not enough to save the Dragons from their third loss of the season. The fixture witnessed the Blues grind out a thrilling victory over the Scarlets after outscoring them by two tries to one. Although the Scarlets staged a comeback from a 17-3 deficit they could not gain a third successive victory as the Blues clung onto their narrow 17-16 advantage until the close of play.

Following their initial defeat of the season the Ospreys continued their winning streak with a superb victory over the Scarlets. They avenged their early season loss with a narrow 27-24 victory in a game which saw the lead swing back forth throughout. The teams scored four tries apiece, and with two conversions each the game was tied in the dying minutes. A late drop goal in the final seconds of the game from James Hook saw the Ospreys nudge ahead and claim the impressive victory in dramatic fashion. The Blues also built on their good form in achieving their third win in four games by completing the double over the Dragons. The Blues took a 24-14 lead into the interval but the Dragons launched a comeback on the restart; tries from Alex Walker and Gavin Ferguson took the Dragons into the lead with a quarter of the game remaining. A Rhys Bloomberg try and conversion and penalty from Dai Flanagan ultimately won the day for the Blues region as they secured the 34-29 win.

The Scarlets and the Dragons met at Rodney Parade in the penultimate round of the Reebok Regional U20 championship. The Dragons sought revenge for their previous defeat in the season but suffered a second loss at the hands of an impressive Scarlet team. The Scarlets’ star player of the evening Darren Daniel scored a first half hat-trick and later added a fourth score to his tally. Three other tries eased the Scarlets clear with Aled Thomas bagging three conversions. Scott Marasco and Stuart Vokes crossed for consolatory unconverted tries for the Dragons yet the resounding 41-10 defeat concreted a miserable season for the Gwent region.

The other round five fixture saw the Ospreys defeat the Blues 16-10 at Aberavon with Reebok's ambassador for the competition Rob Howley looking on. He commented, “We are trying hard in Wales to develop our own players and this particular competition is proving successful in those terms. Some of the young players on view here tonight were outstanding and I am sure that a handful of them have really bright futures in the game.” Of the young players on view, Chris Czekaj and Jamie Roberts amassed tries for the Blues whilst James Dixon bettered the score with three penalties and the conversion of David Watts’s try for the Ospreys.

The final round of pool games at U20 level were postponed until March 23rd, almost two months after the round five matches. The Blues hosted the Scarlets at Sardis Road, needing a victory plus a bonus point to deny the Scarlets a place in the final at the Millennium Stadium. They would also have to prevent the Scarlets from notching a bonus point to have any chances of making the final.

The Scarlets, who had spent all season in the top two places of the table, incurred a 44-33 loss to the Blues but snatched a place in the final through scoring four tries and gaining the resultant bonus point. The Blues’ tries came from Tom Riley, Tom Dickens, Dafydd Hewett, Chris Clayton and a brace courtesy of Nathan Trevett with outside half Dai Flanagan kicking five conversions and a penalty. Wings Steven Davies and Luke Marsh and outside half Craig Evans scored tries for the Scarlets with captain Ian Jones adding a brace of his own. Evans added four conversions to complete the Scarlet scoring.The Ospreys met the Dragons at Aberavon in their final pool game, having already qualified for the final with their run of four consecutive wins. They concluded their impressive season with a 30-14 victory over the Dragons, who had failed to achieve one win in the entire season. Osprey tries were scored by David Watts, Aaron Bramwell, Ashley James and James Pike whilst James Dixon kicked two penalties and four conversions.

The showpiece Reebok Regional U20 championship final pitted the Scarlets against the Ospreys. The Ospreys stormed away to take an early lead courtesy of tries from scrum half Martin Roberts, centre Chris Tossell and Wales U19 captain and fullback Jonathan Spratt. They took a 19-0 advantage into the break yet the Scarlets started strongly on the resumption of the game. Scarlets centre Emyr Williams gained a brace of tries whilst fullback Roger Davies added the third to bring the Scarlets back into contention. James Hook crossed the Scarlet line for a late Osprey try but wing Darren Daniel responded and scored a try eight minutes into injury time to clinch the dramatic win 25-24.

With the U18 title clinched by the Scarlets a weekend before the U16 and U20 fixtures, the Scarlets achieved a unique treble in the opening season of the WRU Reebok Regional Championships. Both titles at the Millennium Stadium were claimed by the Scarlets who gained a clean sweep in the inaugural Reebok Regional age grade competition.

Reebok ambassador Rob Howley commented on the U16 and U20 finals, "Both were excellent games and to be honest we have seen two weekends of outstanding rugby. I think the future of the game in Wales looks particularly good, we seem to be bringing through a whole host of outstanding youngsters." The WRU Reebok Regional Championships had, in the introductory season, proved a successful initiative and one that was likely to flourish.