The Aviva A League returned last night, and where previously it has been a very tight league, this week every game that went the distance had a thoroughly one-sided look to it at the end.

The phrase ‘that went the distance’ is necessary because London Irish A v Harlequins A had to be abandoned at half time after a power cut meant that the floodlights stopped working. Harlequins led 12-7 at the break, but unfortunately the half time abandonment meant that many of the youngsters on each bench did not get there chance to shine.

Elsewhere though, every winning team scored over forty points, with Bath United and Worcester Cavaliers both passing fifty.

Leicester Tigers A v Bristol United was the first game to kick off, Leicester named a highly experience side, Freddie Burns was at flay half for instance, having had a very sloppy start to the campaign, while Bristol had stuck to their usual youthful side – that Burns was opposite Callum Sheedy, just out of Millfield School, showed the experience gulf across the field. That was reflected in the result, with Leicester winning 41-3.

Worcester Cavaliers built themselves a huge lead at the top of the Northern Conference with just one game remaining as they beat second placed Newcastle Falcons A, who were level on points with them at the top at the start of play, by a stunning 59-11 scoreline and securing top spot for the play off semi finals unless some freakish scorelines come into play.

The remaining game in the Northern Conference was between Northampton Wanderers and Sale Jets. At the start of play they were 5^th and 7^th respectively and that was how it remained afterwards with Northampton securing an impressive 41-7 victory, that included tries for the likes of Lewis Ludlum, the England U20s flanker and last year’s St Joseph’s College captain.

In the South Saracens Storm led the way at the start of play, and held onto that lead by quite as distance as they beat a very young Wasps A side 43-17 at Allianz Park, including a try from last year’s Millfield star, Tom Whiteley, and a brace from England U20 JWC winner and Saracens Storm captain, Maro Itoje.

Bumping themselves  up to second place, albeit nine points behind Saracens, were Bath United, who beat London Welsh 51-14, and that is not the somewhat  easier task that it is in the Premiership. Current schoolboy Darren Atkins made his United debut and was by all accounts outstanding, whilst former Sherborne star Will Homer drew great praise form Bath with his kicking display from the tee.

With the final round of A League games to come on Monday evening, the fight for the final play off places remains tight in both leagues, it should be another exciting and youthful evening of rugby.

Who impressed you in the A League last night? Let us know via @FifteenRugbyXV or via the comment box below.

Aviva A League Results:

London Irish A 7-12 Harlequins A (Abandoned at half time)

Leicester Tigers A 41-3 Bristol United

Northampton Wanderers 41-7 Sale Jets

Worcester Cavaliers 59-11 Newcastle Falcons A

London Welsh A 14-51 Bath United

Saracens Storm 43-17 Wasps A

Teams:

London Irish:

15. Cameron Cowell;  14. James Short;  13. Tom Fowlie;  12. Ross Neal;  11. Harry Lightfoot-Brown;  10. Myles Dorrian (c);  9. Connor Murphy;  1. Johnny Harris;  2. Harry Allen;  3. Ken Dowding;  4. Theo Vukasinovic;  5. Dave Lyons;  6. Ollie Currie;  7. Greg Brown;  8. Armand Roux.

Replacements:  16. James Catton;  17. Ben Knight;  18. Toby Salmon;  19. Luke Frost;  20. Seb Rodwell;  21. Matt Jarvis;  22. Tom Chalcroft;  23. Ollie Phillips. 

Harlequins:

15 Ollie Lindsay-Hague  14 Charlie Walker  13 Harry Sloan  12 Tom Casson  11 Ugo Monye  10 Louis Grimoldby  9 Tito Tebaldi  1 Darryl Marfo  2 Rob Buchanan  3 Kyle Sinckler  4 Stan South  5 Sam Twomey  6 Kieran Treadwell  7 James Chisholm 8 Henry Cheeseman.

Replacements:  16 Charlie Piper  17 Seb Adeniran-Olule  18 TBA  19 George Merrick  20 Harry Rowland  21 Jordan Burns  22 Ross Chisholm  23 Gareth Stoppani.

Leicester Tigers A:

15 Tommy Bell 14 Adam Thompstone 13 George Catchpole 12 Jack Roberts  11 Miles Benjamin 10 Freddie Burns 9 David Mele 1 Tom Bristow 2 Harry Thacker (c) 3 Tiziano Pasquali  4 Gregory Peterson 5 Tom Price 6 Jack Whetton 7 Charlie Beckett 8 Ed Milne.

Replacements:16 Neil Briggs 17 Aniseko Sio 18 Riccardo Brugnara  19 Charlie Harvey 20 Jake Farnworth 21 George Prince 22 Oli Bryant 23 Rhys Williams.

Bristol United:

Charlie Amesbury;  George Watkins,  Jack Tovey,  Mark Cooke,  Ryan Edwards;  Callum Sheedy,  Luke Baldwin;  Matias Diaz,  Rhys Lawrence,  Gaston Cortes,  Chris Pursall (Old Reds),  Joe Joyce (c),  Jake Polledri,  Josh Ovens,  Ben Skirving.

Replacements: James Stephenson,  Ollie Streeter (Weston),  Louis Wolf (Clifton),  Dale Lemon (UWE),  Tim Turner,  Lucas Slowik,  Elias Caven (SGS Filton).

Northampton Wanderers:

15 Tom Collins  14 Josh Skelcey  13 Dom Waldouck  12 Harry Mallinder  11 Jamie Elliott  10 Will Hooley  9 Joel Hodgson  1 Ross McMillan  2 Matti Williams  3 Tom Mercey  4 Jordan Onojaife  5 Alex Woolford  6 Ben Nutley  7 Teimana Harrison  8 Cam Dolan.

Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall  17 Craig Voisey  18 Stefan Thorpp  19 Tom Taylor-Dawes  20 Lewis Ludlum  21 Alex Day  22 Sam Olver  23 Rory Hutchinson.

Sale Jets:

Mark Lawrence, John O’Donnell, Sam James, Sam Bedlow, Phil Mackenzie, Tom Morton, Nathan Fowles, James Flynn, Cameron Neild, George Hymes, Tom Bell, Tom Sanders, Andy Hughes (capt.), Liam Parfitt, Viliami Fihaki,

Replacements: Max Cobilas, Phil Mills, Tom Lanaway, Josh Boland, Mike Quickenden, James Mitchell, Ciaran Connelly, Jack Wise.

Worcester Cavaliers:

15 Ben Howard  14 James Stephenson  13 Alex Grove  12 Ravai Fatiaki  11 Josh Drauniniu  10 Ignacio Mieres  9 JB Bruzulier (c)  1 Ryan Bower  2 Niall Annett  3 Joe Rees  4 Matt Perks  5 Dan Sanderson  6 Richard de Carpentier  7 Andrew Boyce  8 Leo Senatore.

Replacements:  16 Ben Sowrey  17 Jack Cosgrove  18 Alex Gordas  19 Myles Edwards  20 Charlie Mulchrone  21 Andy Symons  22 Perry Humphreys  23 Mat Gilbert.

Newcastle Falcons A:

15 Brett Connon 14 Tom Penny 13 Danny Barnes 12 Aniteli Tuilagi 11 Lee Smith 10 Phil Godman 9 Andy Davies 1 Jake Elwood 2 Rob Hawkins 3 Mark Irving 4 Scott Macleod 5 Josh Hedley 6 Sebastian Ferreira 7 Dan Temm 8 Ben Morris.

Replacements: 16 David Nelson 17 Sam White 18 Andrew Adams 19 Harry Snowdon 20 Brian Tuilagi 21 Dan Taylor 22 James Christie 23 Peter Weightman.

London Welsh A:

1. Nathan Trevett
 2. Koree Britton 
3. Jack Gilding 
4. Josh McNally 
5. Matt Corker 
6. Ben West
 7. Jesse Liston 
8. Ben Pienaar
 9. Ed Hoadley 
10. Will Robinson 
11. Sam Isaacs 
12. James Tincknell 
13. Courtney Morrison 
14. Conor Corrigan 
15. Ben Summers.

Replacements:
 16. Mungo Strachan 
17. Ian Williams
 18. Jimmy Litchfield 
19. Clarke Smith
 20. Ollie Stedman 
21. Paul Rowley 
22. Phil Ellis
 23. Charlie Self.

Bath United:

15 Ed Coulson  14 Darren Atkins  13 Olly Woodburn  12 Marcus Beer  11 Richard Lane  10 Ollie Devoto  9 Will Homer  1 Beno Obano  2 Tom Dunn  3 Kane Palma-Newport  4 Will Spencer  5 Charlie Ewels (c)  6 David Sisi  7 Guy Mercer  8 Carl Fearns.

Replacements:  16 Tom Woolstencroft  17 J.P. Orlandi  18 Dan Keates  19 Tom Ellis  20 Max Northcote-Green  21 Rory Jennings  22 Adam Hastings  23 Kristian Otto.

Saracens Storm:

15. Catalin Fercu;  14. Mike Ellery,  13. Tim Streather,  12. Thretton Palamo,  11. George Perkins;  10. Nils Mordt,  9. Ben Spencer;  1. Richard Barrington,  2. Jared Saunders,  3. Biyi Alo,  4. Maro Itoje (c),  5. Hayden Smith,  6. Hayden Thompson-Stringer,  7. Matt Hankin,  8. Nick De Jager.

Replacements: 16. Josh Taylor,  17. Jack Culverhouse,  18. Billy Walker,  19. Mike Tredrea,  20. Don Barrell,  21. Tom Whiteley,  22. Max Malins,  23. Nick Tompkins.

Wasps A:

1. Alex Lundberg  2. George Edgson  3. Phil Swainston  4. Will Rowlands  5. James Cannon  6. Buster Lawrence  7. Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas  8. Ed Jackson  9. Tom Bliss  10. Glyn Hughes  11. Josh Bassett  12. George Eastwell  13. Ollie Evans  14. Tom Howe  15. Piers O’Conor.

Replacements:  16. Ian Browne (Guest)  17. Tom West  18. Will Taylor  19. Will Wilson (U18)  20. Mike Dewar (U18)  21. James Small-Edwards (U18)  22. TBC  23. Shaquille Jack (Guest).