The fifth round of the U18 Academy Premiership takes place this weekend, with six fixtures taking place.

The action began this evening at Allianz Park, where Saracens extended their lead at the top of the Southern Conference with a 37-21 victory over second placed Bath.

Sticking with the South, bottom of the table Bristol host Wasps on Saturday at 13.30 at Filton College, with Wasps looking for a second win of the season and one that would take them into the top half of the table.

It is an interesting weekend, with many sides without a few regulars due to school fixtures, that is less of a problem for Exeter Chiefs in the final game in South as they draw much of their side from their three affiliated AASE colleges.

Exeter host Harlequins at Sandy Park on Saturday, and with Exeter having won two and lost one, and Quins lost two and won one, it ought to be a good game, with Exeter the marginal favourites.

Moving on to the North, where bottom of the table Yorkshire Carnegie host Worcester Warriors. Both sides have shown the quality of their academies though, with 18 year old Jack Walker captaining the Yorkshire Carnegie 1^st XV this weekend, and Worcester having made the Aviva A League final, against Saracens on Monday evening.

Half an hour after that clash in Yorkshire kicks off, Northampton Saints host Newcastle Falcons. Saints won the U18 Premiership last year and sit just one point off the top in the Northern Conference this year, with a game in hand over top of the table Gloucester.

Gloucester will be looking to sustain that lead on Sunday though when they travel to Carrington to take on Sale Sharks, who lie fourth in the table but with only six points.

Following the conclusion of this round, there is a weekend off for the Academies ahead of the next round on the weekend of the 24^th January, before the final round takes place on the weekend of the 7^th February.

U18 Academy Premiership Fixtures:

Saracens 37-21 Bath (Friday, 19.30, Allianz Park)

Yorkshire Carnegie v Worcester Warriors (Saturday, 13.00, Moor Lane)

Bristol v Wasps (Saturday, 13.30, Filton College)

Northampton Saints v Newcastle Falcons (Saturday, 13.30, Franklin’s Gardens)

Exeter Chiefs v Harlequins (Saturday, 14.30, Sandy Park)

Sale Sharks v Gloucester (Sunday, 14.00, Carrington)

Teams:

Saracens – TBA

Bath:

1. Vaughan  2. Frost  3. Carter  4. Rice  5. Bayliss (c)  6. Ransom  7. Blackmore  8. Morris-Mean  9. Bailey  10. Hastings  11. T Lewis  12. Waters  13. Mackenzie  14. Martin  15. Graham.

Replacements: 16. Starks  17. Oghre  18. Thompson  19. Denness  20. Vecchio  21. Shrestha  22. Kelly  23. Rees.

Yorkshire Carnegie:

1. Charlie Capps  2. Harry Newborn  3. Nathan Smith  4. Raffen Cherrington  5. Elliot Ward  6. Jordon Poole  7. Lewis Wilson  8. Brandon Staples  9. Max Green  10. Sam Allan (c)  11. Connor Field  12. Max Wright  13. Tom Bullough  14. Ben Winterburn  15. Tom Gorman.

Replacements: 16. Luke Chadwick  17. Joe Raddings  18. Will Dennis  19. Ross Kirtland  20.  James Sanderson  21. Jimmy McDaniel  22. Connor Field.

Worcester Warriors:

15 Tainne Finn 14 Harry Robinson 13 George Trimmer 12 Will Butler 11 Baron Abrahams 10 Sam Hollingsworth 9 Jamie Shilcock 1 James Page 2 Jack Singleton 3 Joe Morris 4 Andrew Kitchener 5 Justin Clegg 6 Sam Smith 7 Zac Xiourouppa 8 Ben Fowles.

Replacements: 16 George Newman 17 Joe White 18 Ben Davies Moore 19 Max Hill 20 Myles Edwards 21 Jacob Ham 22 Will Hollis 23 Dion King.

Bristol – TBA

Wasps:

1 Tom West  2 Jamie Cox (Abingdon School)  3  Will Stuart  4 Seb Cecil  5 Ehize Ehizode (St Benedicts)  6 Craig Willis (Henley College)  7 Seun Coker (Stowe)  8  Will Wilson (Wellington College)  9 James Small-Edwards (St Paul’s)  10 Harry Sheppard (Wasps Academy)  11 Caleb Shepherd (Henley College)  12 Connor Eastgate (Henley College)  13 Conor Dolan (c) (Wellington College)  14 Callum Sirker (Harrow School)  15 Owain James (Harrow School).

Replacements: 16 Rauf Birler (The Henley College)  17 Charlie Perkins  18 Cecil McCarthy (Henley College)  19 Will Glover (Harrow School)  20 Scott White (Henley College)  21 Alex Crocker (Henley College)  22 Mike Marsden (RGS High Wycombe)  23 Al Glikston.

Northampton Saints:

15 George Furbank 14 Tosin Segun 13 Rory Hutchinson 12 Harry Mallinder (c) 11 Rotimi Segun 10 Gregor Haldane 9 Tom Emery 1 Luke Palmer 2 Rob Marmion 3 Luc Jeanott 4 Alex Moon 5 John Hawkins 6 Tim Cardall 7 Will Allman 8 George Cox.

Replacements: 16 AlexRayment 17 Ehren Painter 18 Jake Byrne 19 Toby Trinder 20 Jake Carter 21 Rob Smith 22 James Grayson  23 Jamel Hamilton.

Newcastle Falcons – TBA

Exeter Chiefs:

1 Oli Dawe  2 Charlie Gibbings  3 Billy Keast  4 Kieran Westlake (c)  5 Connor O’Shaughnessy  6 Josh Cauldfield  7 Toby Papp  8 Dec Matthews  9 Jack Maunder  10 Oli Avery  11 Harrison Cully  12 Noah Sixton  13 Harry Strong  14 Aaron Chapman  15 Ethan Tyler.

Replacements:  16 Liam Hilliar  17 Aiden Taylor  18 Alex Rood  19 Angus brown  20 Nat Bayett  21 Matt Butler  22 James McFarlane  23 Tom Putt.

Harlequins (from):

Forwards: 

Wilkey, Gasson, Ugodulunwa, Hadfield, Tilleray, Obano, Gratton, Thomas, White, Okafor, Richardson, Hunt, Keunen, Lamb-Cona.

Backs:

Saunders, Morley, Brinkley, Ibitoye, Hennessy, Sackey, Simmons, Kitto, Lewthwaite, Aspland-Robinson.

Sale Sharks:

Alex Mitchell, Harry Blackwell, Frazer Summers, Ali Crossdale, Charlie Venables, Mark Dixon, Connor Dever, Jordan Grass, Christian Taylor, Jake Pope, Matt Postlethwaite, Max Davies, Tom Curry, Tom MacCuish, Joe McGrail.

Replacements: Lewis Bradley, George Williams, Jack Conteh, Druw Fray, Sam Haley, Ben Curry, Callum Emery, Ali Wealthall.

Gloucester – TBA