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 U18 competition kicked off at the same time as the younger tournament with the Blues battling the Dragons and the Scarlets hosting the Ospreys at Stradey Park. The Sardis Road affair saw the Dragons over power the Blues by 38-16. The Blues started brighter as Jack Bird gained a try, whilst Christian Ballor converted and added three penalties. The Dragons soon found their rhythm as No.8 Lewis Evans struck with the Dragons’ first try followed swiftly by four more – two for Jimmy Norris and one apiece for man-of-the-match Rhys Jones and Ashley Smith. The Scarlets edged a narrower win over the Ospreys in a tough contest, 17-13. The Scarlets took a 10-5 advantage into the break yet an Osprey try from Michael Thomas and a penalty from outside half Nicky Roberts gave the Ospreys a sniff of victory. Yet the Scarlets clinched the late win in the dying minutes when Rhys Williams touched down for a converted try.

The second round of the tournament saw the Ospreys incur their second defeat of the season in a loss to the Blues at The Gnoll. In the 14-8 victory Lee Scarf and Jonathan Gough attained tries to give the Blues their first win of the championship whilst Alex Wilkins replied with a try for the Ospreys. The Dragons, after their impressive win over the Blues in the opening round, went down to the Scarlets 15-23 at Abertillery Park, who attained their second successive victory of the season.

After their fantastic victory over the Dragons, a win which surprised even those in the Stradey Park system, the Scarlets entered round three of the Reebok Regional U18 tournament aiming to build on their positive start to the season. They met the Cardiff Blues at Sardis Road and continued their success with a 26-18 win. Fullback Kevin James and wings Chris Thorne and Adam Shields kept the tally ticking over for the home side but they couldn’t recover from the 21-8 deficit at half-time. The Scarlet score resulted in tries from Richard Connors, Bedyr Harris, Richard Thomas and John Davies as Rhys Priestland added the extras. The Dragons aimed to get back on track with a win over the Ospreys at The Old Parish but they were defeated 20-17. The Dragons took an early 10-0 lead courtesy of a penalty from Rhys Jones and a Jimmy Norris try. However, the Ospreys hit back with tries from Richard Kelly and Lloyd Harris with Nicky Roberts securing the Ospreys’ first victory of the season with penalties in the closing minutes.

In the first matches of the new year the Ospreys reaped revenge over the Scarlets following their first round defeat by securing a 15-3 victory in the return fixture at Dunvant. The Ospreys ran in tries from Mark Breeze, James Pike and Sam Kiley whereas the Scarlets were only able to reply with a Rhys Priestland penalty. The Blues lost their third match of the championship in January as they encountered the Dragons at Abertillery Park. In the 9-0 victory Rhys Jones secured all of the Gwent region’s points before receiving a ten minute sin-binning.

The Scarlets returned to winning form in the fifth round of the tournament and in doing so secured a final berth in the U18 Reebok Regional Championship. They secured a 17-10 victory over the Dragons at Narberth and completed a double over the Gwent region following their previous second round victory in November. The Dragons drew out a ten point lead at the interval as James Lewis attained a try and outside half Rhys Jones added the extras with his boot. Yet the Scarlets fought back to score seventeen points without reply; tries from Kieran Davies and centre John Davies were improved by Rhys Priestland who had begun the Scarlet scoring with a penalty.

In the other penultimate pool match the Ospreys gained a last gasp victory over the Blues at Abercynon to leapfrog the Dragons in the U18 table. The Blues led for much of the game but the Ospreys secured the 16-13 win in the final quarter due to a Rhys Lawrence try and eleven points from the boot of Nicky Roberts. The win set up a February showdown in the final pool match between the Ospreys and Dragons to determine the other U18 finalist to meet the runaway leaders, the Scarlets.

The face-off at Abertillery was a thrilling climax to the U18 championship after four months of regional warfare. The Dragons had been the pre-season favourites to prevail in the U18 championship but their less than successful season demanded a victory, whereas the Ospreys could afford to lose providing they picked up a four try scoring bonus point without their rivals achieving the same. However, this was too tall an order to complete and the Ospreys concluded a definite victory over the Dragons to set up a thrilling April final with the Scarlets. They completed the double over the Dragons with a 25-15 success; tries from Sam Kiley, Lee Sims, Liam O’Brien and Jamie Challenger secured the Ospreys’ win and final spot.

The Scarlets, already through to the final courtesy of four wins in five games, took on the Blues at Llandovery in a purely academic fixture. The Scarlets completed their pool campaign with a 22-8 victory over the Blues. A try from Steve Martin and brace for wing Alec Jenkins together with boot successes from Sion Crabtree and Darren Allinson confirmed the Scarlets’ dominance in the U18 championship as they headed into the April final.

The Scarlets completed their impressive inaugural season by emphatically winning the WRU Reebok Regional U18 Championship final at the Millennium Stadium. A fantastic virtuoso performance from the youngest player on the pitch, sixteen year-old Jon Davies, helped the Scarlets U18 lift the first tournament trophy. The youngster gained an impressive four tries in the 36-3 victory over the Ospreys. He attained the first of his quartet after just three minutes while Steve Martin doubled the Scarlet advantage three minutes later with a second try. Nicky Roberts reduced the deficit with a penalty on the quarter hour mark but the Ospreys failed to gain further points in the clash.

Davies added his second try in the twenty-first minute and completed his hat-trick nine minutes from the half time whistle as the outstanding Martin Thomas had initiated another superb move from deep in his own half. Davies notched his fourth try eight minutes from time and together with the accuracy from Rhys Priestland’s boot the Scarlets rounded off their superb victory.

Reebok ambassador for the competition Rob Howley said, “It was a fine all-round display from the Scarlets and the young centre took his opportunities well. I was impressed with the manner in which both sides played the game and in particular the way they used the ball behind the scrum.”

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.