Round 3 of the U18 Academy League took place this weekend, the second of three weekends in a row of U18 Premiership rugby.
It takes many sides to the halfway point of the league, there are two divisions of seven teams, each side playing the others in their division once, with the top 3 playing their counterparts from the other division on Finals Day.
Northern Conference
Newcastle Falcons picked up their first victory of the campaign on Saturday, beating another winless side, Northampton Saints, 41-27. The win actually takes the Falcons up to third in the table, though at this stage the Northern Conference is incredibly tight and could yet change significantly over the next four rounds.
One side that do seem relatively comfortable are Wasps, who have a 3 point lead at the top of the table after they beat Sale Sharks in a very close game 22-19. It makes it two wins and a draw from their three games for Wasps, while for last year’s finalists, Sale, it is two defeats from two, albeit by very fine margins in both.
The Northern Conference’s fixtures were rounded off on Sunday with a thrilling game between Worcester Warriors and Yorkshire Carnegie. Yorkshire were back in action for the first time since they beat Newcastle in the opening round, but it was Worcester who just claimed the points, winning 20-19 to move second in the table. It was a dramatic win though, a last minute penalty form replacement fly half Josh Phipps of Hartpury College just giving Worcester the one point victory. It completed a stunning comeback from the home side, who were 19-10 down but clawed their way back.
Southern Conference
Gloucester are really beginning to look like the side to beat in the Southern Conference, they have three wins from three after a brilliant 41-33 win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday at Dean Close School.
They now sit four points clear of Saracens, who are in second, and a massive 9 ahead of Exeter in third. They scored six tries in their defeat of Exeter, with Jacob Morris keeping up his incredible scoring record with a brace, Ewan Fenley, Jack Reeves, Jack Bartlet, and Alex Hunt were the other scorers as the home side converted a 29-19 half time lead into a 41-33 win. Exeter were impressive too though, not least blindside flanker Flynn Elworthy, who scored a hat-trick.
Bath meanwhile secured their first win of the campaign after a very tricky opening two rounds. They split a stunning 91 points with London Irish for a 50-41 victory, condemning the visitors to a third defeat on the spin in a thriller of a game. 20 points from Beechen Cliff’s Tom De Glanville helped the visitors, who came back from 22-5 down to lead 24-22 at the break. From there they stretched away to a 50-27 lead, but London Irish clung on, eventually closing that down to the final score of 50-41.
The final game in the south saw Saracens move second thanks to a 38-25 home win over Bristol. Bristol secured a bonus points thanks to scoring four tries of the own, but it was Saracens that were in control, scoring six of their own. New Hall’s Oliver Bluck scored a brace, while his schoolmate and fellow winger David Jimoh-Ibrahim was also on the scoresheet, along with Haileybury’s powerhouse hooker Kaepeli Pifleti, and Bishop Stortford College teammates Cameron Boon and Jake Morris.
As always, if you have any videos, photos, or reports from the weekend’s U18 Academy League rugby, please feel free to send them in via Twitter (@FifteenRugbyXV), Facebook (www.facebook.com/FifteenRugby), Instagram (@fifteenrugbyxv), or through email (writers@fifteenrugby.com).
Images via Richard Papworth & Anthony Gilbert
U18 Academy League Round 3 Results:
Northern Conference
Newcastle Falcons 41-27 Northampton Saints
Wasps 22-19 Sale Sharks
Worcester Warriors 20-19 Yorkshire Carnegie
Southern Conference
Gloucester 41-33 Exeter Chiefs
London Irish 41-50 Bath
Saracens 38-25 Bristol
Round 2 Results:
Northern Conference
Sale Sharks 6-16 Leicester Tigers
Newcastle Falcons 24-24 Wasps
Northampton Saints 20-26 Worcester Warriors
Southern Conference
Bath 10-66 Gloucester
Exeter Chiefs 48-17 London Irish
Harlequins 12-23 Saracens
Round 1 Results:
Northern Conference
Leicester Tigers 31-31 Northampton Saints
Worcester Warriors 12-55 Wasps
Yorkshire Carnegie 33-19 Newcastle Falcons
Southern Conference
Bristol 32-14 Bath
London Irish 29-43 Harlequins
Saracens 31-34 Gloucester
Team News:
Northern Conference
Newcastle Flacons
15 Josh Hodge, 14 Morgan Passman, 13 Chidera Obonna, 12 Jack Peter, 11 Harry Jackson, 10 Callum Pascoe, 9 Cameron Kelemeti, 1 Will Elliott, 2 Joe Lashley, 3 Oscar Caudle, 4 Rob Farrar, 5 Will Montgomery, 6 Harry Hill, 7 Eddy Anderson, 8 Tom Marshall.
Replacements: 16 Phil Brantigham, 17 Reece Amir, 18 Freddy Lockwood, 19 Will Petiffer, 20 Carwyn Tuipulotu, 21 Theo Manihera, 22 Nathan Henderson, 23 Shaw Lorimer-Bell.
Northampton Saints – N/A
Wasps
15 O’Sullivan, 14 Bacon, 13 Anderson, 12 Weatherall, 11 Henderson, 10 Pietersen, 9 Chilcott (vc), 1 Nearchou, 2 Barbeary (c), 3 Roche, 4 Kelley, 5 Ademuwagun, 6 Mawdsley, 7 Tunney, 8 Jakobsen.
Replacements: 16 Mbaud, 17 Pleasants, 18 West, 19 Vickers, 20 Calvert-Evers, 21 Kat, 22 Lowe, 23 Atta.
Sale Sharks
15 Tom Curtis, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Nathan Pope, 11 Raffi Quirke, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 Tom Walsh, 1 Alex Brooks, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Cal Ford, 4 Rouban Birch, 5 Jack Hill, 6 Ciaran Booth, 7 Charlie Papworth, 8 Sam Dugdale.
Replacements: 16 Liam Davies, 17 James Harper, 18 Sam Higginson, 19 Joe Johnson, 20 James Rooney, 21 Evan Powell, 22 Nico Rizzelli.
Worcester Warriors
15 Noah Heward (Solihull), 14 Charlie Gamble (Worcester Sixth Form College), 13 Ollie Lawrence (Bromsgrove), 12 Paul Wells (Worcester Sixth Form College), 11 Rob Lester (Worcester Sixth Form College), 10 Louis Jackson (KES Stratford), 9 Jake Leonard (Worcester Sixth Form College), 1 Lewis Holsey (Solihull), 2 Jamie White (Worcester Sixth Form College), 3 Max Baggs (Cheltenham College), 4 George Parker (Worcester Sixth Form College), 5 Aaron Lawes (KES Five Ways), 6 Oli Thorneywork (Warwick), 7 Will Higgins (Idsall), 8 Tom Fawcett (Warwick).
Replacements: 16 Josh Olver (Droitwich HS), 17 Lewis Ballinger (Worcester Sixth Form College), 18 Will Sutton (Worcester Sixth Form College), 19 Morgan Monks (Worcester Sixth Form College), 20 Ben Turner (Bromsgrove), 21 Tom Williams (Bromsgrove), 22 Josh Phipps (Hartpury College), 23 Jed Corbett (Ellesmere College).
Yorkshire Carnegie
15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Joe Gatus, 13 Andre Robson, 12 Dan Lancaster, 11 James MaGee, 10 Tom Stephenson, 9 Joe Green (vc), 1 Ben Carlile (c), 2 Lawrence Mason, 3 Billy Nicholls, 4 Adam Hopkinson, 5 Matt Burke, 6 James Willis, 7 Edan Kelly, 8 Archie Smeaton.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Gibson, 17 Conner Hancock, 18 Will Booth, 19 Will Pritchard, 20 Harry Williams, 21 George Wright, 22 Cail Cookland, 23 Morgan Bunting.
Southern Conference
Gloucester
15 Reece Dunn, 14 Alex Morgan, 13 Jack Reeves, 12 Isaac Marsh, 11 Jacob Morris, 10 George Barton, 9 Ewan Fenley, 1 Shay O’Malley, 2 Morgan Nelson, 3 Jack Bartlett, 4 Archie Tarbuck, 5 Joe Howard, 6 JJ Tonks, 7 Jack Clement, 8 Cam Terry.
Replacements: 16 Bertie Stretch, 17 Alex Hunt, 18 Ollie Adkins, 19 Jonny Holliday, 20 Bailey Watts, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Tom Stanton, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit.
Exeter Chiefs
15 James Tucker, 14 Archie Hill, 13 Luke Flack, 12 Robbie Weeks, 11 Kian Atkinson, 10 Olly Toomey, 9 Sam Maunder (c), 1 Alfie Petch, 2 Will Ridout, 3 Henry Trudgill, 4 Lewis Pearson, 5 Cory Teague, 6 Flynn Elworthy, 7 Richard Capstick, 8 Rus Tuima.
Replacements: 16 Harvey Dunn, 17 Oliver Andrews, 18 Elliot Salt, 19 Joseph Parker-Cooke, 20 Bryn-Lee Jago, 21 James Tait, 22 Francesco Scardamaglia, 23 Dan Lilley.
London Irish
15 Jack Jesty, 14 Ted Drayson, 13 William Joseph, 12 Reuben Knight, 11 Ben Harris, 10 Will Sinfield, 9 Sam Clough, 1 Jamie Henson, 2 Ben Atkins, 3 Brandon Baker, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 Lee Moore, 6 Ben Donnell, 7 Josh Smart, 8 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 Edward Cockman, 17 Oisin Kearney, 18 Jack Belcher, 19 Jacob Culley-Wilson, 20 Gwilym Bradley, 21 Gruffyd Williams, 22 Philip Cokanasiga, 23 Alex Young.
Bath – N/A
Saracens
15 Max Bliss (Dulwich), 14 Oliver Bluck (New Hall), 13 Ade Lipede (Whitgift), 12 Charlie Watson (King’s Canterbury), 11 David Jimoh-Ibrahim (New Hall), 10 Josh Barton (Berkhamsted), 9 Matteo Petrozzi (Tonbridge), 1 Samuel Crean (Harrow), 2 Kaepeli Pifleti (Haileybury), 3 Harvey Beaton (Sutton Valence), 4 Oliver Stonham (Felsted), 5 Cameron Boon (Bishop Stortford College), 6 Tobias Munday (Harrow), 7 Ethan Benson (Hayes), 8 Alfie Scopes (Judd).
Replacements: 16 Theodore Dan (Alleyn’s), 17 Tom Harris (Tonbridge), 18 Harry Sturge (Felsted), 19 Matthew McDonagh (Berkhamsted), 20 Kyle Douglas (Haileybury), 21 Rory Hazelton (Whitgift), 22 James Hoyes (Haileybury), 23 Jake Morris (Bishop Stortford College).
Bristol
15 Ioan Lloyd (Clifton College), 14 Will Hines (Redland Green), 13 Charlie Powell (Bristol GS), 12 Nathan Chamberlain (SGS Filton College), 11 Jack Bates (SGS Filton College), 10 Tom Wilstead (Colston’s), 9 Blake Boyland (SGS Filton College), 1 Charlie Brabham (SGS Filton College), 2 Will Capon (Bristol GS, c), 3. Nick English (Bristol Academy), 4 Tom Ford (SGS Filton College), 5 Ned Smith (Bristol GS), 6 Ethan Organ (Clifton College), 7 Tomi Adgebite (Cabot LF), 8 George Kloska (SGS Fiton College).
Replacements: 16. Sean Ihegie (Cabot LF), 17 Jay Burley (SGS Filton College), 18 George Brazier (Clifton College), 19 Ben Tothill (SGS Filton College), 20 Jake Goodridge (Castle), 21 Ben Roach (SGS Filton College), 22 Ethan Smith (SGS Filton College), 23 Quentin Querl (Weston College).
