Northampton Saints U18s Head Coach Charlie Reed said his side is looking forward to a ‘last dance’ as a group this Sunday as they take on Exeter Chiefs at Kingsholm on Sunday (22 February, kick-off: 3:15pm) in the PREM Next Gen Finals day.
For the first time in five years, the young Saints will not feature in the first-place final. Instead, they take on Exeter Chiefs in the fifth-place playoff at Kingsholm this season.
However, Saints have already emerged victorious once this year over Sunday’s opponents when they kicked off their Next Gen season with a high-scoring 64-51 victory over the Chiefs in Round 1.
“For us, Sunday is about the boys going out and enjoying themselves in this last dance as a group altogether,” Reed said.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted last week against Bristol, but this weekend, what we’ve targeted for one final time this year is for this group of boys to go out and put a performance that they can be proud of, and that’s all that matters.
“The results haven’t always gone our way this season, but the most important thing was always trying to get the best out of the individual, both on and off the pitch.
Despite last Saturday’s defeat to Bristol in the Academy league, there was other positive news for the Saints academy as current U18s player and Northampton School for Boys student, Jack Lewis, came off the bench in Friday night’s 22-40 PREM Cup victory over Harlequins.
Lewis featured twice this year in the academy league as well as representing England U18s, and Reed was full of praise for the back row, who became Saints’ second youngest player in the professional era.
“It was great to see Jack come on and get his debut on Friday night,” Reed continued.
“He has been excellent in an academy shirt both this year and last, and to see him kick on is brilliant for him, and everyone involved is incredibly proud of him.”