Round 5 of the U18 Academy League takes place this weekend, with 12 of the 14 teams in action.

The Anglo-Welsh Cup sees some notable absentees form the U18 League after some senior call-ups notably Sedbergh’s Cameron Redpath and Kirkham Grammar’s Kieran Wilkinson at Sale Sharks, Bromsgrove’s Ollie Lawrence at Worcester Warriors, and Wellington College’s Sam Spink at Wasps.

With just two rounds left after this one though, this is a key round of games as sides jostle for places in the league’s Finals Day.

Northern Conference

Saturday’s action kicks off on Saturday at 1pm as Wasps host Leicester Tigers. These two are top and second in the conference, and by quite a stretch. Wasps, skippered once again by England U18 hooker Alfie Barbeary, are top of the league on 17 points. Wasps, who have been playing some scintillating stuff, are five points clear of Leicester, who themselves are three clear of Worcester Warriors.

Leicester have a game in hand though, so a bonus point win over Wasps would draw them level and leave the final standings in their own hands. Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth College flanker Taylor Gough skippers the side, which also includes the likes of Oakham’s Sam Costelow.

Also kicking off at 1pm is Yorkshire Carnegie v Northampton Saints. These two both sit at the foot of the table, but whoever wins will likely shoot up the league. Yorkshire Carnegie are led by St Peter’s York hooker Adam Brown, with QEGS Wakefield hooker Joe Gatus supporting as vice-captain. Northampton Saints are yet to name their side.

The final game in the Northern Conference takes place on Sunday, kicking off at 2pm at Manchester Met University. Sale Sharks, who reached last year’s final, have been struggling a little but picked up their first win of the campaign last time out against Newcastle Falcons. Worcester Warriors meanwhile are sitting pretty in 3^rd, but could easily be leapfrogged by Sale and others this weekend, should they lose. The Warriors are dominated by their AASE side, Worcester 6^th form College, but also include plenty of players from surrounding schools, such as Warwick’s Oliver Thorneywork and Tom Fawcett.

Southern Conference

Saturdays Southern Conference action kicks off at midday at the home of London Irish, Hazelwood, as they host Saracens. Irish are currently at the foot of the table without a win, but name an exciting side, Including Ben Atkins at hooker and Gwilym Bradley at blindside.

Saracens meanwhile are in third, level on points with Exeter Chiefs in second, both of them will be hoping to hunt down runaway leaders Glocuester this weekend while they have a bye. Saracens are captained this week by Bishop Stortford College’s Cameron Boon and have some exciting players in the squad, including Harrow’s Manu Vunipola at 10 and Tom Hitchcock of Felsted at thirteen.

At 2pm Exeter Chiefs host Bath at Truro College. Neither side has yet named their side, but it is a crucial game for both as second placed Exeter hunt down Gloucester, while Bath looked to build on a couple of good results in a row as they aim to charge up the table.

Saturday’s final game in the south is at SGS Filton College as Bristol host Harlequins. Neither side have yet named their side, but both arrive with just one win to their name. Bristol sit just above London Irish in 6^th, while Harlequins are in fourth thanks to a draw with Bath last week in addition to their opening round win over Irish.

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).

U18 Academy League Round 5 Fixtures:

Northern Conference

Sale Sharks v Worcester Warriors – Sunday, 2pm, Manchester Met Uni

Wasps v Leicester Tigers – Saturday, 1pm, Bicester RFC

Yorkshire Carnegie v Northampton Saints – Saturday, 1pm, Barnsley RFC

Southern Conference

Bristol v Harlequins – Saturday, 2.15pm, SGS Filton College

Exeter Chiefs v Bath – Saturday, 2pm, Truro College

London Irish v Saracens – Saturday, 12pm, Hazelwood 

Round 4 Results:

Northern Conference

Leicester Tigers 42-12 Worcester Warriors

Newcastle Falcons 14-33 Sale Sharks

Wasps 26-14 Yorkshire Carnegie

Southern Conference

Bath 36-36 Harlequins

Exeter Chiefs 38-19 Bristol

Gloucester 20-19 London Irish

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:

Sale Sharks

15 Nathan Pope, 14 Nico Rizelli, 13 Tom Roebuck, 12 James Rooney, 11 Tom Walsh, 10 Tom Curtis, 9 Gus Warr, 1 Bevan Rodd, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 James Harper, 4 Rouban Birch, 5 Connor James, 6 Ciaran Booth, 7 Teddy Leatherbarrow, 8 Sam Dugdale.

Replacements: 16 Liam Davies, 17 Alex Brooks, 18 Cal Ford, 19 Jack Hill, 20 Owen Roberts, 21 Charlie Papworth, 22 Elliot Gourlay, 23 Connor Doherty, 24 Ewan Murphy.

Worcester Warriors

15 Noah Heward (Solihull), 14 Alex Haselock (Worcester 6^th Form College), 13 Rob Lester (Worcester 6^th Form College), 12 Paul Wells (Worcester 6^th Form College), 11 Charlie Gamble (Worcester 6^th Form College), 10 Louis Jackson (KES Stratford), 9 Jake Leonard (Worcester 6^th Form College), 1 Lewis Holsey (Solihull), 2 Jamie White (Worcester 6^th Form College), 3 Max Baggs (Cheltenham College), 4 Tom Berry (RGS Worcester), 5 Tom Fawcett (Warwick), 6 George Bates (King’s Worcester), 7 Will Higgins (Idsall), 8 Oli Thorneywork (Warwick).

Replacements: 16 Josh Olver (Droitwich Spa HS), 17 Ben Woodland (Worcester 6^th Form College), 18 Tom Furnival (Worcester 6^th Form College), 19 Owien Harriott-Davis (King’s Worcester), 20 Ben Turner (Bromsgrove), 21 Tom Williams (Bromsgrove), 22 Josh Phipps (Hartpury College), 23 Ollie Gould (Worcester 6^th Form College).

Wasps

15 Bacon, 14 Atta, 13 Simonds, 12 Weatherall, 11 Young, 10 Lowe, 9 Kay, 1 Nearchour, 2 Barbeary (c), 3 Roche, 4 Kelley, 5 Mawdsley, 6 Tunney, 7 Stoker, 8 Jakobsen.

Replacements: 16 Mbaud, 17 Pleasants, 18 Cordice, 19 Ademuwagun, 20 Vickers, 21 Chilcott, 22 Pietersen, 23 Hamilton.

Leicester Tigers

15 Freddie Steward (Norwich), 14 Will Poland (Bishop Vesey’s GS), 13 Ronnie Du Randt (Denstone College), 12 Andre Dunn (Langley), 11 Luke Phoenix (Langley), 10 Sam Costelow (Oakham), 9 Jonny Law (Rugby), 1 Keston Lines (Wyggeston & QE College), 2 Jamie Harding (Denstone College), 3 James Whitcombe (Woodhouse Grove), 4 George Martin (Brooksby Melton College), 5 Xander Purcell (Wyggeston & QE College), 6 Taylor Gough (Wyggeston & QE College, captain), 7 Sam Eveleigh (Leicester GS), 8 Dave Koelman (Stamford).

Replacements: 16 Finlay Gibson (Brooksby Melton College), 17 Alex Maxwell (Brooksby Melton College), 18 Joe Latham (Wyggeston & QE College), 19 Thom Smith (Langley), 20 Joe Browning (Denstone College), 21 Jack Van Poortvliet (Oakham), 22 Harry Glynn (Leicester GS), 23 Zack Godfrey (Stamford).

Yorkshire Carnegie

15 Joe Carpenter (Woodhouse Grove), 14 Joe Gatus (QEGS Wakefield, vc), 13 Jacob Mounsey (QEGS Wakefield), 12 Seth Adams (Hill House), 11 Jack Bodman (Hill House), 10 Dan Lancaster (Bishop Burton College), 9 Kai Ramratten (Mount St Mary’s), 1 Jasper McGuire (QEGS Wakefield), 2 Adam Brown (St Peters, York, c), 3 Conner Hancock (Bishop Burton College), 4 Adam Hopkinson (Silcoates), 5 Frazer Reed (Fulford), 6 Max Hanson (QEGS Wakefield), 7 Harry Williams – Bishop Burton College), 8 Matt Burke (Woodhouse Grove).

Replacements: 16 Lawrence Mason (Bishop Burton College), 17 Ben Carlile (Pocklington), 18 Callum Hancock (Bishop Burton College), 19 Allan Hudson (Giggleswick), 20 Ted Wainwright (Ripon GS), 21 George Wright (Rishworth), 22 Andre Robson (Durham), 23 Jack Kennell (Queen Ethelburga’s), 24 Will Pritchard (St John Fisher), 25 Cail Cookland (Bishop Burton College)

Northampton Saints

Bristol

15 Ioan Lloyd (Clifton College), 14 Jack Bates (SGS Filton College), 13 Charlie Powell (Bristol GS), 12 Ethan Smith (SGS Filton College), 11 Will Hines (Redland Green), 10 Nathan Chamberlain (SGS Filton College), 9 Blake Boyland (SGS Filton College), 1 Charlie Branham (SGS Filton College), 2 Will Capon (Bristol GS), 3 Jay Burley (SGS Filton College), 4 George Brazier (Clifton College), 5 Chris Moseley (SGS Filton College), 6 Ethan Organ (Clifton College), 7 Tomi Adgebite (Cabot LF), 8 George Kloska (SGS Filton College).

Replacements: 16 Sean Ihegie (Cabot LF), 17 Harry Samuel (Hartpury College), 18 Owen Evans (SGS Filton College), 19 Finn Langford (SGS Filton College), 20 Hugh Richardson (Bristol GS), 21 Ben Roach (SGS Filton College), 22 Soloman Hutchings (Clifton College), 23 Bertie Scoble (U19, St Mary’s Uni).

Harlequins

Forwards: 
S Riley (St George’s, Weybridge), J Morris (Whitgift), J Salomon (Whitgift), A Salomon (Whitgift), K Sassone (Sevenoaks), H Tizard (Cranleigh), G Hammond (Whitgift), J Glover (Harrow), T Davison (St John’s, Leatherhead), J Reid (Wellington College), J Kenningham (Reeds’), H.Dugmore (Whitgift)

Backs:
T Allen (Epsom College), E Dunford (Whigift), J Botterill (Fulbrook), F Sofolarin (Dulwich College), J.Bond (St John’s, Leatherhead), C Englefield (St Paul’s Catholic College), J Potter (St John’s, Leatherhead), S Jardine (Dulwich College), H Hyde (Cranleigh).

Exeter Chiefs

Bath

London Irish

15 Dan Stoller, 14 Ted Drayson, 13 William Joseph, 12 Cieran McGann, 11 Ben Harris, 10 Reuben Knight, 9 Sam Clough, 1 Jamie Henson, 2 Ben Atkins, 3 Brandon Baker, 4 Lee Moore, 5 Ben Donnell, 6 Gwilym Bradley, 7 Josh Smart, 8 Toby Smith.

Replacements: 16 Edward Cockman, 17 Luke Green 18, Jack Belcher, 19 James Griffiths, 20 Nicholas Teague, 21 Edward Morgan, 22 Philip Cokanasiga, 23 Michael Dykes.

Saracens

15 Max Bliss (Dulwich College), 14 Oliver Bluck (New Hall), 13 Tom Hitchcock (Felsted), 12 Charlie Watson (King’s Canterbury), 11 David Jimoh-Ibrahim (New Hall), 10 Manu Vunipola (Harrow), 9 Matteo Petrozzi (Tonbridge), 1 Kapeli Pifleti (Haileybury), 2 Sam Crean (Harrow), 3 Harvey Beaton (Sutton Valence), 4 Ollie Stonham (Felsted), 5 Cameron Boon (c) (Bishop Stortford College), 6 Tobias Munday (Harrow), 7 Dylan Taylor (Harrow), 8 Alfie Scopes (Judd).

Replacements: 16 Theodore Dan (Alleyn’s), 17 Tom Harris (Tonbridge), 18 Harry Sturge (Felsted), 19 Jonathan Kpoku (Oaklands College), 20 Ethan Benson (Hayes), 21 Kyle Douglas (Haileybury), 22 Josh Barton (Berkhamsted), 23 Jake Morris (Bishop Stortford College).