This weekend saw the resumption of the U18 Academy Premiership, ahead of a busy run of games in the competition with four rounds in five weeks.
The action all kicked off on Friday night with Wasps hosting London Irish. Both sides arrived having won their opening fixtures back in October, but it was London Irish who were the ones to double the win number as they took the game 17-15 despite a strong Wasps second half fight.
The side that London Irish had beaten last time out was Exeter Chiefs, but the Chiefs bounced back in this second round with a good 34-24 victory over Bristol, who were competing for the first time this season after a bye week in the first round.
Also competing for the first time this season were Leicester Tigers, and they too fell to defeat as Worcester Warriors, so impressive last time out against Yorkshire Carnegie, picked up their second win, 22-12.
It was more bad news for Yorkshire Carnegie, who made the long trip to Gloucester, winners over Sale in their opener. Gloucester win in flying form right from the off, beating the Leeds side 42-5.
Sale recovered well from that opening round defeat to Gloucester as they condemned Newcastle Falcons to a second defeat in a row, winning 16-0.
Bath also secured their first win of the campaign after losing to Wasps first time out. They beat Harlequins, so impressive against Saracens last time, by a decent 22-14 margin.
IF you have any photos, videos, or reports from the weekend’s U18 Academy Premiership action, do send them in to writers@fifteenrugby.com
U18 Academy Premiership Results:
Wasps 15-17 London Irish
Exeter Chiefs 34-24 Bristol
Leicester Tigers 12-22 Worcester Warriors
Gloucester 42-5 Yorkshire Carnegie
Newcastle Falcons 0-16 Sale Sharks
Bath 22-14 Harlequins
Team News:
Wasps v London Irish
Wasps
15 Harry Hanley, 14 Matt Ilube, 13 Caleb Shepherd, 12 Finn Pietersen, 11 Will Simmonds, 10 Connor Eastgate (c), 9 Will Porter, 1 George Probyn, 2 Tom Guthrie, 3 George Strainge, 4 Ehize Ehizode, 5 Jacob Tuner, 6 Will Glover, 7 Seun Coker, 8 Tom Willis.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Cox, 17 Osman Dimen, 18 Joe McNamara, 19 Joe Tunney, 20 Matt Handcock, 21 Alex Crocker, 22 Nico Petros, 23 Toni Kuku.
London Irish
15 Will Attfield, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Connor Hayhow, 12 Lewis Sampson, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Sam Evans, 9 Rory Brand, 1 Jarod Leat, 2 Matt Kouris (c), 3 Dan Winning, 4 Harry Butler, 5 Angus Southon, 6 Harry Norton, 7 Will Verdan, 8 Isaac Curtis-Harris.
Replacements: 16 Freddie Boyce, 17 Callum Torpey, 18 Austin Hay, 19 Sam Collingridge, 20 Max Clementson, 21 Dan Grant-Adamson, 22 Connor Burns, 23 Russell Bennett.
Exeter Chiefs v Bristol
Exeter Chiefs
15 Joe Elderkin, 14 Aaron Chapman, 13 Declan Matthews, 12 Sam Brown, 11 AJ Cant, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Joe Snow, 1 James Kenny, 2 Matt Symons, 3 Marcus Street, 4 Louis Groves, 5 Dan Swain, 6 Will Gibson, 7 Sam Daly, 8 Charlie Wright (c).
Replacemsnts: 16 Louis Powell, 17 Adam Wright, 18 Jed Kerkin, 19 Dan Head, 20 Aaron Thompson, 21 Matt Marsh, 22 Ryan Lee, 23 Matt Morrish.
Bristol
15 Iwan Hughes (SGS College); 14 Finn Murphy (SGS College), 13 Ezra Caven (SGS College), 12 Mitch Mayes (c) (SGS College), 11 Elliot Richards (Merthyr College); 10 James Newey (Christ College Brecon), 9 Lewis Leaker (Gordano RFC); 1 Alex Harvey (SGS College), 2 Jordan Rye (SGS College), 3 Billy Sims (SGS College), 4 James Dun (Millfield), 5 Chris McCann (SGS College), 6 Dan Thurston (SGS College), S7 am Taylor (SGS College), 8 Kean Gannaway-Roberts (Colstons).
Replacements: 16 Tom Honour (SGS College), 17 Scott Parsons (Old Reds), 18 Nick English (SGS College), 19 Dylan Jones (Clifton College), 20 Alex Ryan (Christ College Brecon), 21 Josh Barton (Millfield), 22 Dai Morley (SGS College), 23 Josh Wright (Millfield).
Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors
Leicester Tigers – N/A
Worcester Warriors
15 Max Craven (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 14 Alex Hearle (Church Stretton), 13 Dion King (King’s Worcester), 12 Will Butler (Hereford Cathedral), 11 Stan Maine (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 10 Ollie Allsopp (Malvern College), 9 Jamie Shillcock , 1 Freddie Hemmingway (Riverside School Malvern), 2 George Newman (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 3 Joe Morris (King’s Aston), 4 Lawrence Weston (Bromsgrove School), 5 James Scott (Malvern College), 6 Ted Hill (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 7 Tom Ford (Bromsgrove School), 8 Ben Fowles (C) (Solihull School).
Replacements: 16 George Radburn (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 17 James Page , 18 Ben Davies-Moore (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 19 Max Hill (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 20 Jacob Ham (King’s Worcester), 21 Sam Hollingsworth (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE), 22 Baron Abraham (Worcester Sixth Form College/AASE).
Gloucester v Yorkshire Carnegie
Gloucester – N/A
Yorkshire Carnegie
15 Henry Wright, 14 Tom Bullough, 13 Suva Ma’asi, 12 Connor Field, 11 George Bastow, 10 Harry Davey, 9 Ollie Fox (c), 1 Jack Wafer, 2 Luke Chadwick, 3 Will Dennis, 4 Shaun Crouch, 5 Elliott Ward, 6 Ben Longton, 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 James Sanderson.
Replacements: 16 Jordon Poole, 17 Cole Wilson, 18 Charlie Capps, 19 Eddie Brown, 20 Hugo Tasker, 21 Sam Pocklington, 22 Jonny Ashman, 23 Louie Brown.
Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks
Newcastle Falcons
1 Scott Merrin (Gosforth Academy) 2 Jamie Blamire (Gosforth Academy) 3 Tristan Grant (Gosforth Academy) 4 Max Davies (Sedbergh) 5 Josh Williams (Hartlepool 6th Form College) 6 Hayden Thompson-Green (Sedbergh) 7 Joe Towers (Lancaster RGS) 8 Jack Johnson (Gosforth Academy) 9 Charlie Gowling (Sedbergh) 10 Ali Crossdale (Sedbergh) 11 Garry Izomor (Durham) 12 Charlie Wilson (RGS Newcastle) 13 Ben Stevenson (Yarm) 14 Adam Radwan (Hartlepool 6th Form College) 15 Tom Metcalfe (Barnard Castle).
Replacements: 16 Mike Newstead (Gosforth Academy) 17 Isaac Brace (Barnard Castle) 18 Callum Rafrafi (Middlesbrough RFC) 19 Alex Hayton (Gosforth Academy) 20 Connor Beswick (Gosforth Academy) 21 James Elliott (Durham) 22 Ryan Foreman (Hartlepool 6th Form College) 23 Ikenna Obonna (RGS Newcastle).
Sale Sharks
15 Calum Owen, 14 Michael Forrest, 13 Arron Reed, 12 Jack Beavers, 11 George Chatterton, 10 Alex Burrage, 9 Will Hodgson, 1 Ben Martin, 2 Ben Gregory, 3 Druw Fray, 4 Charlie Pozniak, 5 George Bordill, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry, 8 George Blackwell.
Replacements: 16 Monty Weatherby, 17 Scott Southwell, 18 Sam Dugdale, 19 Luke James, 20 Ali Wealthall, 21 Kieran Wilkinson, 22 Ben Watson, 23 Cameron Redpath
Bath v Harlequins
Bath
1 Andrew Peverelle (Trialist), 2 Gabriel Oghre (c) (Millfield), 3 Jack Edmondson (Senior Academy), 4 Matt Solway (King’s Bruton), 5 Rhys Davies (Millfield), 6 Dan Marek (Richard Huish College), 7 Roddy Denness (Bryanston), 8 Miles Reid (Beechen Cliff), 9 Cameron Brown (Millfield), 10 Will Flinn (Bath Uni), 11 Jonny Keh (Sedbergh), 12 Kieran Griffiths (Millfield), 13 James Thorne (Canford), 14 Henry Martin (Marlborough College), 15 Harry Close (Millfield).
Replacements: 16 Jack Hurley (Beechen Cliff), 17 Jamie Bettesworth (Beechen Cliff), 18 Will Vaughan (SGS Filton), 19 George Brophy (Millfield), 20 Harry Short (Beechen Cliff), 21 Joe Jones (KES Bath), 22 Tom Pittman (King’s Taunton), 23 Jack Utton (Corsham School).
Harlequins
Forwards:
Paul Marshall, Alex Bidwell, George Head, Suvwe Gratton, Sam Gratton, Kareem Swandell, John Okafor, Henry Paremain, Mike Gatehouse, Cameron Hyne, Nathan Thomas, James Gulliver and Dino Lamb-Cona.
Backs:
Zack Santos, Niall Saunders, Alex Hogg, Cadan Murley, Jake Hennessy, Matt Harrison, Max Coyle, Gabriel Ibitoye, Silas-Paul Johnson, A.N. Other.
