The second round of the Aviva A League took place over the course of the weekend, with games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday night.
There were just five games, with two in the Northern Conference and three in the Southern Conference, but they were five interesting and exciting games in varying ways.
Northern Conference
Following the 1st XV East Midlands derby, the A League version took place, with Northampton Wanderers repeating the efforts of their main side, beating Leicester Tigers A 38-10.
Wanderers were 10-3 down at half time as Mahoney scored for Leicester, with Rugby School leaver adding the extras and a penalty, former Scotland U20 international Rory Hutchinson landed a penalty on the half for Northampton.
It was a different story in the second half though as Northampton game flying out. New signing Jamal Ford-Robinson scored an early brace before his prop partner Van Wyk added one of his own, swiftly followed by former England U20 centre Tom Stephenson before his centre partner, Estelles, added a fifth for Saints, with Hutchinson converting each and ever score for the 38-10 victory.
The other game in the North saw Sale Jets host Wasps A at Heywood Road. Wasps A came out as the victors, 22-12, but that was far from the full story. At half time they led 19-7, with tries from TJ Harris, fly half Will Millett, and promising young prop Will Stuart, with Jacob Umaga converting two of those scores. Sale, meanwhile, had scored through second row George Nott, with Alex Dolly converting.
However in the second half all that Wasps could manage was an Umaga penalty as Sale tried to close the gap, scoring a try through Jake Pope to leave the final score at 22-12.
Southern Conference
On Saturday evening at Sandy Park, Exeter Braves hosted Bristol United. It was a solid win for Exeter, who won 28-19, but a decent performance from Bristol on their opening game of the campaign.
Exeter got the try scoring bonus with tries from Moray Low, former Dulwich College man Tom O’Flaherty, and scrum half Will Chudley, with a penalty try completing the bonus point.
Bristol responded with three of their own as Bedlow, Quinn, and Holden all crossed the whitewash and Callum Sheedy pulling the strings from fly half and adding a couple of conversions.
Staying in the south west, Gloucester United and Bath United played out an exciting game, with Gloucester eventually taking it 36-26.
Gloucester crossed the whitewash six times, with David Halaifonua kicking things off before England U18 flanker Aaron Hinckley followed up. Scrum half Charlie Chapman added a third before a Joe Mullis brace took the try count to five, with Alex Ducker finishing off the Gloucester scoring. Carwyn Penny added three conversion.
Bath secured a try scoring bonus too though as they scored four tries through Will Partington, Jack Wilson, Michael Van Vuuren, and Josh Lewis, with Lewis also landing three conversions.
The final game in the Southern Conference saw London Irish host Harlequins. Both sides had lost their opening games, and in the senior fixture last weekend Irish had stunned Quins at Twickenham.
Harlequins got their revenge on Monday night though, scoring six tries for a 45-7 victory. Scotland winger Tim Visser scored a brace, with Harry Sloan, Charlie Mulchrone, John Okafor, and Calum Waters adding the other four, while Ollie Hoskins was the sole London Irish try scorer.
Aviva A League Round 2 Results:
Northern Conference
Northampton Wanderers 38-10 Leicester Tigers A
Sale Jets 12-22 Wasps A
Southern Conference
Exeter Braves 28-19 Bristol United
Gloucester United 36-26 Bath United
London Irish A 7-45 Harlequins A
Teams:
Northampton Wanderers:
15 Furbank, 14 Elliott, 13 Estelles, 12 Stephenson, 11 Pisi, 10 R Hutchinson, 9 Mitchell, 1 Van Wyk, 2 Marshall, 3 Ford-Robinson, 4 Peters, 5 Moon, 6 Ryan, 7 Nutley, 8 Onojaife.
Replacements: 16 Clare, 17 Beesely, 18 Painter, 19 Coles, 20 Allman, 21 Kessell, 22 Strachan, 23 Dingwall.
Leicester Tigers A:
15 Olowofela, 14 Catchpole, 13 Owen, 12 Thacker, 11 Holmes, 10 Hardwick, 9 Simmons, 1 Traynor, 2 Mahoney, 3 Betts, 4 Lewis, 5 Maksymiw, 6 Tuilagi, 7 Evans, 8 Mapapalangi.
Replacements: 16 Kerr, 17 Grahamslaw, 18 Heyes, 19 T Hutchinson, 20 Reffell, 21 White, 22 Travers, 23 Foster.
Sale Jets:
15 Charlie Venables, 14 Aaron Reed, 13 Luke James, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 Alex Dolly, 9 Chris Calvert, 1 Jake Pope, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Halani Aulika, 4 Matt Postlethwaite, 5 George Nott, 6 Nic Dolly, 7 David Seymour (c), 8 Laurence Pearce.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 John Blanchard, 18 Laurence Sanderson, 19 Josef Murphy, 20 Kennet O’Neil, 21 Ciaran Connolly, 22 Billy Wara, 23 Tom Carleton.
Wasps A:
15 Owain James, 14 Aaron O’Sullivan, 13 Guy Armitage, 12 Jacob Umaga, 11 Jo Davantanilu, 10 Will Millett, 9 Will Porter (co-capt), 1 Ben Harris, 2 T.J Harris, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Tim Cardall, 5 Guy Borrowdale, 6 George Cox, 7 Gabriel Oghre, 8 Tom Willis (co-capt).
Replacements: 16 Will Owen, 17 George Thornton, 18 David Langley, 19 Cameron Gray, 20 Matt Dawson, 21 Josh Nott, 22 Alex Goble, 23 Josh Grimes.
Exeter Braves:
15 M Haines, 14 T O’Flaherty, 13 T Hendrickson, 12 H Strong, 11 H Cully, 10 J Simmonds, 9 W Chudley, 1M Low, 2 S Malton, 3 G Holmes, 4 E Holmes, 5 W van der Sluys, 6 J Freeman, 7 J Salvi (c), 8 J McRae.
Replacements: 16 J Innard, 17 A Hepburn, 18 J Owlett, 19 L Pearson, 20 S Lonsdale, 21 A Bagwell, 22 G Parks, 23 S Ma’asi.
Bristol United:
15 J Wallace, 14 R Edwards, 13 T Palamo, 12 S Bedlow, 11 T Hargan, 10 C Sheedy, 9 A Uren, 1 J O’Connell, 2 J Liney, 3 N English, 4 J Joyce (c), 5 J Quinn, 6 T Pashley, 7 O Robinson, 8 D Thurston.
Replacements: 16 B Gompels, 17 D Watchorn, 18 A Gibson, 19 T Rowland, 20 M Cresswell, 21 R Cullen, 22 M Holden, 23 R Forbes.
Gloucester United:
15 Reece Dunn, 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Tom Hudson, 11 Mason Tonks, 10 Carwyn Penny, 9 Charlie Chapman, 1 Alex Seville, 2 Henry Walker, 3 Ciaran Knight, 4 Charlie Beckett (c), 5 Tom Denton, 6 Will Safe, 7 Aaron Hinckley, 8 Gareth Evans.
Replacements: 16 Joe Mullis, 17 Cameron Orr, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Andy Cramond, 20 Harry Wilson, 21 Alex Ducker, 22 Aquillen Smith, 23 Ed Coulson.
Bath United:
15 Darren Atkins, 14 Levi Davis, 13 Robbie de Bruyn, 12 Jack Wilson, 11 Will Partington, 10 Josh Lewis, 9 Darren Allinson, 1 Will Vaughan, 2 Nathan Charles, 3 Sam Nixon, 4 Jack Davis, 5 Levi Douglas, 6 Chris Barry, 7 Josh Bayliss, 8 Zach Mercer (c).
Replacements: 16 Michael Van Vuuren, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19. George Frampton, 20 Craig Duncan, 21 Will Flinn.
London Irish A:
15 Tom Parton, 14 Matt Williams, 13 Tom Fowlie, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Jacob Atkins, 9 Rory Brand, 1 Tom Smallbone, 2 Tom Woolstencroft, 3 Ollie Hoskins (c), 4 Will Lloyd, 5 Josh Basham, 6 Max Northcote-Green, 7 Isaac Curtis-Harris, 8 Lasha Lomidze.
Replacements: 16 Todd Gleave, 17 Austin Hay, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Teofilo Paulo, 20 Dom McGeekie, 21 Elliot Quintin, 22 Ed Hoadley, 23 Ollie Hassell-Collins.
Harlequins A:
15 Tim Swiel, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Winston Stanley, 12 Harry Sloan, 11 Tim Visser, 10 James Lang, 9 Charlie Mulchrone, 1 Mark Lambert, 2 Elia Elia, 3 Phil Swainston, 4 John Okafor, 5 Stan South, 6 Willie Ryan, 7 Archie White, 8 Dino Lamb-Cona.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Piper, 17 Cameron Holenstein, 18 Josh Ibuanokpe, 19 Nathan Thomas, 20 James Gulliver, 21 Calum Waters, 22 Dave Lewis, 23 Tom James.
