Head coach Will Parkin has made two changes to his Northampton Saints Under-18s side as they return to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens this weekend to face Midlands West Academy.
The game kicks-off on Pitch 2 on Saturday (14 January, kick-off: 1pm) and is free to attend for all supporters, with parking in Car Parks A, B and C (NN5 5AX) also free of charge.
After last weekend’s resounding 36-12 win over Sale Sharks, Parkin’s side head back to the Gardens in their second of three back-to-back home matches sitting top of the Northern Conference.
Midlands West take up the mantle of Worcester Warriors’ Academy set-up after the Premiership club went into administration, and after a narrow 27-24 loss at Sixways last season, Parkin names just two changes to the side that defeated Sale a week ago.
England U18s winger Toby Cousins returns to Saints’ line-up for the first time this season on Saturday, with back row Mart van der Veen the only other addition to an otherwise unchanged starting XV this weekend.
“We were obviously thrilled to get the five points last weekend,” said Parkin. “It was a real team performance which saw a number of our Under-17s make the step up for their Under-18s debuts, with the rest of the squad picking back up where they left off earlier in the summer.
“To have our England U18s in Henry [Pollock] and Archie [McParland] back in obviously gave us a huge boost and we're looking forward to seeing those lads go again this weekend with the addition of Toby [Cousins] back in for the first time.
“We took a lot of positives away from last weekend’s performance against Sale but we haven’t managed to get the win over Midlands West since 2019, so it’s important that we keep the momentum high on Saturday.”
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS U18s vs MIDLANDS WEST U18s
Premiership Rugby U18 Academy League
Saturday 14 January, 2023
Pitch 2, cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 1pm
15 Ewan Baker
14 Ben Radnor
13 Harry Simpson
12 Ollie Saddleton
11 Toby Cousins
10 Max Allman-Ward
9 Archie McParland
1 Lucas Nisbett-Hadaway
2 Sol Moody
3 William Lamprell
4 Aidan Kabi
5 Henri Burditt
6 Mart van der Veen
7 Henry Pollock (c)
8 Ollie Holliday
Replacements:
16 Yujian Zou
17 Oliver Scola
18 Dave Bennett
19 Aiden Ainsworth-Cave
20 Ashton Webb
21 Rory Hollis
22 Billy Pasco
23 Jacob Willmott
