News | Northampton Saints | Rugby | Official Site : Saints Under-15s down Saracens

The Saints drew their team from the two Elite Player Development Group centres in the East Midlands and Eastern Counties. And watched by Academy manager Alan Dickens and Academy coach Mark Hopley, they put on a show of attacking rugby in a game played at a furious pace.

Saracens took the lead after some early pressure with a try under the post, which was converted with ease. The Saints youngsters reacted quickly with a try immediately after the restart; a lineout catch and drive being finished in the corner and well converted by Cameron Bedford, who showed some excellent qualities with the boot.

Another try from Jamie Manley put Saints ahead, then a breakaway try from Saracens put them back in the game. However this was short lived as great vision from the backline saw the ball moved wide, then great link up play from Manley to put Patrick Marmion in for another converted try.

The second half saw Saints start off in positive mood with an early score from scrum-half Alex O'Dell, converted by Bedford. Then came a brace from Austin Beckett, twice put into space by Nico Defeo's fixing of the inside defenders.

A five-metre scrum created another try for Saracens, but the final flourish came courtesy of an outstanding solo effort from George Wacokecoke. The Fijian wing from St Joseph's College chipped his opposite number, got a lucky bounce and ran 50 metres for the score, to round off a team performance that impressed the Academy and Elite Players Development Group staff.

SAINTS UNDER-15 SQUAD
Props Alex Broom (St Joseph's College), Oliver Prescott-Frost (Ipswich; Colchester RFC), Jack Palmer (Ramsey College; Sudbury RFC)
Hookers Tom Dufficy (Ipswich; Colchester RFC), Perry Liu (Bedford Modern; Bedford RFC)
Locks Karl Wilkins (Kesgrave; Colchester RFC), Patrick Marmion (The Leys School; Cambridge RFC), Aiden Cooper (Soham; Newmarket RFC)
Back rowers Jacob Connor (Northampton School for Boys; Old Northamptonians RFC), Jaime Manley (The Ferrers School; Kettering RFC), Oli Lyons (Bedford School; Olney RFC)
Scrum-halves Alex O'Dell (Bedford Modern; Bedford RFC), Daniel Lewis (St Joseph's College; Colchester RFC)
Fly halves Cameron Bedford (BBOB RFC), Conner Bullivant (Northampton School for Boys; Old Northamptonians RFC)
Centres Nico Defeo (Bedford Modern; Bedford RFC), Drew Todd (Stowe School), Rory Platt (Campion School; Bugbrooke RFC)
Wings and full backs Zakk Scorer (Bedford Modern; Bedford RFC), Austin Beckett (St Joseph's College; Sudbury RFC), George Wacokecoke (St Joseph's College; Colchester RFC), James Knoop (The Perse School; Shelford RFC)

If you're going to go down, go down fighting. A spirited Saints side did just that in their first Aviva Premiership Final before finally succumbing to a Leicester team who eventually made the most of a 40-minute spell with an extra man at Twickenham.

Northampton Saints supporters are committing their support to the team in their droves, with Season Ticket sales well ahead of the equivalent time a year ago.

While prop Alex Waller will be hoping to get his hands on the Aviva Premiership trophy at around 4:45pm on Saturday afternoon, his namesake Martin is guaranteed to lift the silverware earlier in the day.