Round 3 of the U18 Academy Premiership was derby day, with each fixture being a local (ish) game.
It all started on Friday night as London Irish hosted Harlequins, winning 31-12, and in the process securing a third win from their three games in the competition so far.
One such win came last weekend against Wasps, but Wasps bounced back on Friday night with an impressive 34-12 effort against Saracens, who are still without a win.
Leicester Tigers chalked up a first victory of the campaign, beating East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints 12-0.
Over in Worcester there was a thriller between Worcester Warriors and Gloucester, Gloucester took the spoils, their third win from three, with a 29-22 victory.
Neither Newcastle Falcons nor Yorkshire Carnegie had a win to their name at the start of the weekend, but with the two sides meeting on Saturday, someone was surely going to get off the mark. It proved to be Newcastle, but by a slim margin, the North Eastern side won 17-14.
Bristol and Bath have long enjoyed a good rivalry, with Bath usually coming out better in recent times. So it proved again on Saturday as the away side took a 12-0 victory at Bristol.
The U18 Academy Premiership now has a week off before two more weekend’s in a row at the start of January.
U18 Academy Premiership Round 3 Results:
London Irish 31-12 Harlequins
Saracens 12-34 Wasps
Leicester Tigers 12-0 Northampton Saints
Worcester Warriors 22-29 Gloucester
Yorkshire Carnegie 14-17 Newcastle Falcons
Bristol 0-12 Bath
Team News:
London Irish v Harlequins
London Irish:
1. Jarrod Leat; 2. Matt Kouris (c); 3. Austin Hay; 4. Harry Butler; 5. Sam Collingridge; 6. Harry Norton; 7. Jack Ingall; 8. Isaac Curtis-Harris; 9. Rory Brand; 10. Sam Evans; 11. Ollie Hassell Collins; 12. Lewis Sampson; 13. Matt Williams; 14. Joe Cokanasiga; 15. Will Attfield.
Replacements: 16. Freddie Boyce; 17. Callum Torpey; 18. Daniel Winning; 19. Alex Gloster; 20. Max Clemenston; 21. Dan Grant Adamson; 22. Tom Parton; 23. Connor Hayhow; 24. Connor Burns.
Harlequins:
Forwards:
Paul Marshall, Alex Bidwell, George Head, Suvwe Obano, Callum Tilleray, Kareem Swandell, John Okafor, Henry Paremain, Mike Gatehouse, Cameron Hyne, Nathan Thomas, Lars Heidrich and Dino Lamb-Cona.
Backs:
Tom Nicole, Niall Saunders, Alex Hogg, Cadan Murley, Jake Hennessy, Matt Harrison, Max Coyle, Gabriel Ibitoye (c), David Olajiga and Rory McMichael.
Saracens v Wasps
Saracens – N/A
Wasps – N/A
Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints
Leicester Tigers:
15 Harry Simmons 14 Lewis Davis 13 Lewis Winterbottom 12 Matt Riddington 11 Sam Yawayawa 10 Tom Hardwick 9 Ben White 1 Oscar Harper 2 Luis Evitt 3 Jake Charters 4 Sam Grahamslaw 5 Morgan Jones 6 Zak Poole 7 Tommy Reffell 8 Freddie Tuilagi.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Pollard 17 Harry Mahoney 18 Alex Worth 19 Tom Greatorex-Sanderson 20 Andy Brown 21 Jacob Umaga 22 Ollie Russell.
Northampton Saints:
15 James Grayson 14 Adam Shaw 13 Fraser Dingwall 12 Freddie McKibbin (c) 11 Jamel Hamilton 10 Gregor Haldane 9 Alex Mitchell 1 Devante Onojaife 2 Rob Marmion 3 Ehren Painter 4 Alan Gragory 5 Ben Kelland 6 Jake Carter 7 Matt Watson 8 Sam Easton.
Replacements: 16 Josiaia Wacokecoke 17 Sam Buckley 18 Rhys Charalambous 19 Alex Branson 20 Tom Brown 21 Ben Richardson 22 Fraser Strachan 23 Adrain Sanday.
Worcester Warriors v Gloucester
Worcester Warriors:
15 Alex Nisbet (Bromsgrove School) 14 Alex Hearle (Shrewsbury Sixth Form) 13 Robbie Smith (Hartpury College) 12 Will Butler (Hereford Cathedral School) 11 Stan Maine (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 10 Ollie Allsopp (Malvern College) 9 Jamie Shillcock 1 Freddie Hemmingway (John Kyrle High School) 2 George Newman (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 3 James Page 4 Lawrence Weston (Bromsgrove School) 5 James Scott (Malvern College) 6 Ted Hill (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 7 Tom Ford (Bromsgrove School) 8 Ben Fowles (Solihull School).
Replacements: 16 Bec Cutting (Bromsgrove School) 17 Ben Davies Moore (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 18 Kia Owen (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 19 Ollie Richardson (Warwick School) 20 George Wooten (Bromsgrove School) 21 Dion King (King’s School Worcester) 22 Sam Hollingworth (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE) 23 Max Craven (Worcester Sixth Form/AASE).
Gloucester – N/A
Yorkshire Carnegie v Newcastle Falcons
Yorkshire Carnegie:
1. Jack Wafer 2. Luke Chadwick 3. Will Dennis 4. Shaun Crouch 5. Elliott Ward 6. Ben Longton 7. Lewis Wilson 8. James Sanderson 9. Ollie Fox (c) 10. Harry Davey 11. George Bastow 12. Connor Field 13. Suva Ma’asi 14. James Pinder 15. Louis Brown.
Replacements: 16. Jack Davis 17. Adam Leetham 18. Ben Carlile 19. Eddie Brown 20. Hugo Tasker 21. Sam Wolstenholme 22. Jonny Ashman 23. Henry Wright.
Newcaslte Falcons:
15 Tom Metcalf, 14 Garry Izomer, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 Charlie Wilson, 11 Adam Radwan, 10 Ryan Foreman, 9 James Elliot, 1 Scott Merrin, 2 Jamie Blamire ( C ) 3 Tristan Grant, 4 Max Davies, 5 Josh Williams, 6 Drew Davison, 7 Joe Towers, 8 Connor Beswick.
Replacements: 16 Mike Newstead, 17 Issac Brace, 18 Rowan Hall Beasley, 19 Will Scott, 20 Jack Johnson, 21 Charlie Gowling, 22 Joe Pickering, 23 Ikenna Obonna.
Bristol v Bath
Bristol:
Elliot Richards (Merthyr College); Finn Murphy (SGS College), Josh Wright (Millfield), Mitch Mayes (SGS College), Ezra Caven (SGS College); James Newey (Christ College Brecon), Josh Barton (Millfield); Alex Harvey (SGS College), Jordan Rye (SGS College), Scott Parsons (Old Reds), James Dun (Millfield), Ryan House (SGS College), Jack Gibson (SGS College), Sam Taylor (SGS College), Kean Gannaway-Roberts (Colston’s).
Replacements: Ryan Barrow (SGS College), Nick English (SGS College), Billy Sims (SGS College), Jack Smart (SGS College), Jack Capon (BGS), Lewis Leaker (Gordano), Bertie Scoble (QEH), Iwan Hughes (SGS College).
Bath:
1. Andrew Peverelle (Trialist) 2. Gabriel Oghre (c) (Millfield) 3. Jamie Bettesworth (Beechen Cliff) 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. Starks, Sam (Dauntsey’s) 18. Will Vaughan (SGS Filton) 19. George Brophy (Millfield) 20. Harry Short (Beechen Cliff) 21. Joe Jones (KES Bath) 22. Jacob Ford (Harrow) 23. Tom Lewis (Sherborne School).
Photo Credit: Simon Cutting
