Match Report: Northampton Saints U18 31 – 14 Bath Rugby U18

Northampton Saints U18s followed in the footsteps of the senior side to defeat Bath in a winner-takes-all final and be crowned Premiership Rugby Academy League champions.

The young Saints trailed at break at Kingsholm on Sunday evening with Jack Lewis’ try being sandwiched by two Fred Cartwright efforts for their Somerset opponents.

However, It was one-way traffic after the interval as Lewis bagged a second and was followed over the line by James Hudson and Aiden Reid with Hugh Shields converting all four and adding a late penalty to secure a 31-14 victory and end a run of three-successive defeats at the final hurdle to lift the shield for the first time in 11 years. 

FIRST HALF

Cup final nerves crept into the hands of both sides in the opening exchanges as attacks in the two 22s ended with inaccuracies. Excellent breakdown work from No.8 Siep Walta delivered Saints a golden opportunity from a five-metre lineout, only for Bath to poach the throw.

The reigning champions in this competition responded with setpiece accuracy as a strong rolling maul forced a penalty concession, upon the second kick to the corner, hooker Cartwright applied the finishing touch, James Linegar added the conversion to put Bath seven points ahead.

The response from the young men in Black, Green and Gold was swift to level the scores as James Pater arrived on a tremendous line to receive Shields’ pass and advance to within inches of the line. Upon the recycle, one of Saints’ stars this season Lewis arrived to crash over for his sixth try of the campaign, with his father, and former Saints prop Mark Lewis (#1690), watching from the stands.

Another player with strong Saints family connections, fly-half Shields, son of Paul (#1852), knocked over the conversion.

Scoreboard parity would not last long as a scrum penalty award to Bath afforded them strong field position. Cartwright would double his try tally for the evening, this time requiring no support from his fellow forwards as he wrestled free of a couple of tacklers to score under the posts. Linegar converted to regain his side’s seven-point lead.

Excellent breakdown work from Zack Garrett earned Northampton another penalty in a strong attacking position, only for lineout accuracies to follow as Saints went in at the break behind. 

SECOND HALF

Six minutes after the restart, Saints were level with a sublime attacking play. Walta freed up his hands in a midfield collision and Henry Lumley and Pater combined to free Charlie Tamani on a stampede up the left wing and deftly offload for the supporting Lewis to finish forcibly. Shields produced a brilliant touchline conversion to make it 14-all.

Shortly afterwards, another blistering Saints attack went so close to creating the try to give them the lead, only for Harry Evans to be held up by two despairing tacklers over the tryline. 

After turning down a shot a goal from a central position inside the 22, Saints lost possession allowing Bath to clear their lines. They then stole the resulting lineout and attempted to play out from under their own posts, only to spill allowing Ferdi Barnett-Vincent to pounce and put Hudson over, with Shields adding the extras.

It was from a back-pedalling scrum that Saints stretched their lead further as Walta took matters into his own hands with a rampaging diagonal carry towards the posts, and from the recycle, Reid was on hand to finish with a step in-field. Shields’ fourth successful kick opened a 14-point lead.

Further gloss was added to the scoreline with the game’s final play as Shields sent over a penalty to spark wild scenes of celebration – as Charlie Reed’s side matched the achievements of the 2013/14 vintage that included Lewis Ludlam, Alex Mitchell and George Furbank to be crowned U18 champions.

LINE UPS:

Saints: 15 Pater, 14 Jackson, 13 Lumley, 12 St John, 11 Tamani, 10 Shields, 9 Evans; 1 Browne, 2 Garrett, 3 Reid, 4 Hull, 5 Lawrence (c), 6 Lewis, 7 Price, 8 Walta.
Replacements: 16 Barnett-Vincent, 17 Veevers, 19 Miska-Alvarez, 20 Hudson, 21 Norton, 22 Innes, 23 Goode.

Bath: 15 Derwent, 14 Nunn, 13 Harrison, 12 Treacey (cc), 11 Corbett, 10 Linegar, 9 Mears; 1 Foster, 2 Cartwright, 3 Purnell, 4 Kempton (CC), 5 Ball, 6 Salisbury, 7 Elliott, 8 Murray
Replacements: 16 Thomas, 17 Mes, 18 Dawe, 19 Skinner, 20 Sui, 21 Pugh, 22 Hooper, 23 Greenhough.