Exeter waltzed past Harlequins to open up a six point lead at the top of the Southern Conference in the U18 Aviva Premiership.
It leaves the Chiefs as the only unbeaten side left in the Conference and looking like the firm favourites to seal the title, with just two fixtures remaining. Harlequins were looking like their closest challengers but their 43-15 victory over Quins on Saturday was a firm signal of the Chiefs quality.
In the Northern Conference, Gloucester are looking increasingly likely to be the team to take the title. Their defeat of Leicester last week was remarkable and impressive but also left them as the only unbeaten side in the conference, and they furthered that record yesterday with a 23-11 victory over Sale Sharks.
At the other end of the table, Worcester Warriors remain camped at the bottom along with Newcastle Falcons. Both suffered heavy defeats at the weekend, with Worcester losing 45-5 to Leeds Carnegie, and Newcastle going down 37-3 to a rampant Northampton Saints side, keeping Saints in the hunt with Gloucester and Leicester for the Northern title.
At the bottom end of the Southern Conference, London Wasps and Bristol met each other on Friday night at Maidenhead RFC. Neither had yet won a game and each just had the one bonus point, though Bristol had played a game more than Wasps, meaning that whoever lost would find themselves alone at the foot of the table.
It was to be Bristol who found themselves there after Wasps put in an impressive display to win 31-24, though Bristol will have found some solace in just managing to cling on for a losing bonus point.
The only real ‘mid-table’ action was in the Southern Conference between Bath and Saracens. Saracens were a point above Bath in the table at the start of play but Bath have been in pretty decent form after a slow start in the league, and so it proved at the weekend as they edged an incredibly tight game 27-25. Following their 31 all draw with London Irish last week it seems that Bath rather enjoy giving their supports their money’s worth in terms of tension!
There is plenty more exciting action to come in the U18 Premeirship this weekend before the three week break ahead of the third round. The fixture that all eyes are likely to be on though is Worcester Warriors v Newcastle Falcons.
With both of these sides struggling at the foot of the table this is likely to be the fixture that keeps one of these two sides off the bottom of the table come the final standings.
If you have any news about the unannounced teams, please do not hesitate to get in contact via the comment box below, @FifteenRugbyXV or promotions@fifteenrugby.com
Results:
London Wasps 31-24 Bristol
Worcester Warriors 5-45 Leeds Carnegie
Newcastle Falcons 3-37 Northampton Saints
Harlequins 15-43 Exeter Chiefs
Bath 27-25 Saracens
Gloucester 23-11 Sale Sharks
Tables:
U18 Premiership Northern Conference | |||||||
Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | BP | Points |
1 | Gloucester | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
2 | Northampton Saints | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
3 | Leicester Tigers | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
4 | Leeds Carnegie | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
5 | Sale Sharks | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
6 | Newcastle Falcons | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
7 | Worcester Warriors | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
U18 Premiership Southern Conference | |||||||
Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | BP | Points |
1 | Exeter Chiefs | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 |
2 | London Irish | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 14 |
3 | Harlequins | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
4 | Bath | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
5 | Saracens | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
6 | London Wasps | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
7 | Bristol | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
Teams:
London Wasps N/A
Bristol:
Forwards: Panting Player/Harper Baker Gompels Ward Smith Ogden Critch Polledri Tait Boyland Kislingbury.
Backs: Uren Littlewood Mogg Beck Slowik Daly Kilbane Balkham Floyd Caven.
Worcester Warriors:
1 Joe Wrafter
2 Callum Young
3 Charlie Robinson
4 Andrew Kitchener
5 Justin Clegg
6 Shay Kerry
7 Andrew Boyce (c)
8 Will Elt
9 George de Cothi
10 Ben Williams
11 Scott Smith
12 Max Himbury
13 Matt Edwards
14 Ryan Scott-Young
15 Jon Hughes.
Replacements: 16 Trae O’Sullivan
17 Joe White
18 James Page
19 Myles Edwards
20 Piers Morel
21 Luke White
22 Reece Chapman-Carry
23 Reece Beddows.
Leeds Carnegie N/A
Newcastle Falcons:
1 Jake Ellwood (Durham School) 2 Ben Wilkinson (Gosforth Academy) 3 James Orritt (Sedbergh) 4 Theo Nwosu-Hope (QE Hexham School) 5 George Hedgley (Giggleswick) 6 Guy Coser (Barnard Castle) 7 Jonny Coser (Barnard Castle) 8 Callum Chick (Gosforth Academy) 9 Dan Taylor (Durham School) 10 Brett Connon (Austin Friars) 11 Luke Davison (West Lakes College) 12 Luke Wilson (Hartlepool 6th Form College) 13 Tom Small (Hartlepool 6th Form College) 14 Dan Marshall (Gosforth Academy) 15 Dan Osborn (Gosforth Academy).
Replacements: 16 Jack Beckwith (Barnard Castle) 17 Aston Whitlow (Gosforth Academy) 18 Jake Taylor (St Peters School York) 19 Aidan Coulthard (West Lakes College) 20 Shane Armstrong (Jed Thistle RFC) 21 James Christie (Sedbergh) 22 Joe Craggs (Gosforth Academy) 23 Jack Hearn (Dame Allans School).
Northampton Saints:
15 Howard Packman
14 Tristan Rawcliffe
13 Rory Hutchinson
12 Harry Mallinder (capt)
11 Rotimi Segun
10 Harry Sheppard 
9 Michael Morris;
1 Ryan Eveleigh
2 James Fish
3 Jake Byrne
4 Karl Wilkins
5 Josh Peters 6 George Cox
7 Will Allman
8 Lewis Ludlam.
Replacements: 16 Owen Griffiths
17 Harrison Marshall
18 Jordan Onojaife
19 John Hawkins
20 Cameron Lee-Everton
21 Nico Defeo
22 George Furbank.
Harlequins (from):
Forwards – Wilkey, Lockhart-Smith, Adeniran-Olule, Mount, Ibuanopke, Gasson, South, White, Treadwell, Forshaw, Thomas, Cheeseman, Keunan.
Backs – Arnold, Jackson, Saunders, Hogg, Bellamin, Marchant, Sackey, Berry, Simmons, Trowbridge, Aspland-Robinson.
Exeter Chiefs N/A
Bath N/A
Saracens N/A
Gloucester N/A
Sale Sharks N/A
