Northampton Saints Academy Head Coach Charlie Reed has named his side to face Sale Sharks in the Defender Next Gen Academy League.
Saints’ youngest try-scorer of the professional era, Will Catley, makes his first academy league appearance of the 2026/27 season, starting at outside centre just as he did for the senior side against Saracens in the PREM Rugby Cup earlier this season.
Seb Dare once again captains the side, this time from the second row, as the young Saints go in hunt of a second win of the season in their final clash of 2026 before the winter break.
Having had a bye week in Round 1 of the competition, the young men in Black, Green and Gold enter Sunday’s clash with one win and one loss under their belts, currently sitting ninth in the league.
Sunday’s opponents, who have played one extra game than Saints, having played a fixture in Round 1 in the competition, currently sit sixth with two losses to Gloucester and Harlequins respectively and one narrow two-point win against Exeter in Round 2.
On Sunday’s clash at Lymm RFC, Reed said, “Sale are always a physical side, the weather doesn’t look great for the weekend, so that will change things, but ultimately we’ll just have to front up physically.
“That will come down to how competitive we are on both sides of the ball. We know they’ve got a good attacking game as well. They put 33 points on Harlequins; we know they’ll want to move the ball in a similar fashion to us.”
Northampton Saints U18s vs Sale Sharks U18s
Defender Next Gen Academy League, Round 4
Sunday 25 October, 2026
Kick-offf: 1pm
15 Henry Bailey
14 Jeremiah German
13 Will Catley
12 Oliver Jones
11 Charlie King
10 Fin Shields
9 George Grewcock
1 Toby Seaman
2 Charlie Utting
3 Ben Jones
4 Seb Dare (c)
5 James Peasley
6 Carter Wright
7 Harry Nath
8 Harrison Denee
Replacements:
16 Basil Anstee
17 Hal McLanaghan
18 Rupert Kiy
19 Archie McHarg
21 Dominic Ateba
22 Felix Jacobs
23 Selorm Agroh
Immediately following the U18s fixture, the U17s will play in a friendly against Sale Sharks with a 3pm kick-off.
Sale Sharks U17s vs Northampton Saints U17s
Friendly
Sunday 25 October, 2026
Kick-off: 3pm
15 Finn Tutin, 14 Archie Doe, 13 Oliver Walter, 12 Kiran Chimangah, 11 Charlie Hearn, 10 Freddie Milward, 9 Marley Lodder; 1 Ugochukwu Ibeanusi, 2 Stan Hey, 3 Fergus Petrie, 4 Nathan Wentzel, 5 Api Delai, 6 Harry Batts, 7 Max Eyles, 8 Toby Wileman.
Replacements: 16 Reggie Herron, 17 Laurie Markham, 18 Josh Swerling, 19 Archie Falkingham, 20 Charlie Brazier, 21 Vincent Rogers, 22 Oscar Black, 23 Otto Castle.