Northampton Saints U18s lost for the first time at home in the 2025/26 PREM Next Gen season as Bath edged the encounter at Shelford RFC 24-33.
Despite tries from Sonny Goode, Elijah Jeyes, Lucas Veevers and Seb Dare, Saints were unable to come away with the victory against Bath, who have already secured their spot in this year’s final.
Reflecting on the result, Head Coach Charlie Reed said: “The performance is something we always chase, and to a man, I thought we were outstanding.
“Bath are a very physical side, but I thought the way we competed and kept our discipline, it was great to watch us play the way we’ve trained throughout the whole year, and that's something we can be very proud of.”
First Half:
It was all one-way traffic in the opening 15 with Saints dominating possession and territory and it looked like they had the first score of the game after a nice break down the short side from a scrum, but Charlie Tamani was held up over the line.
But Bath were ruthless in their efforts when they did get territory into the Saints 22, and Saints were sent down to 14 men following a yellow card for Reuben Williams, and which the visitors capitalised on through a driving maul try and added another from a launch play off a scrum.
The visitors had a third shortly before the break from an intercept by the winger on the narrow side and ran it in under the posts.
However, the Bath hooker was shown yellow right on the stroke of the half for consecutive penalties, giving Saints the man advantage to start the second half.
Second half:
Saints flew out of the blocks early courtesy of Goode pouncing on a loose ball, kicking it ahead and regathering to finish, and backed that up moments later, launching from inside their 22 in brilliant Saints attacking fashion for Jeyes to cross in the corner.
But the table toppers were showing their power and added another from a dominant first phase carry off a lineout, and they crashed over. They continued to dominate possession, and now were back to a full complement, adding a fifth try after sustained pressure inside the red zone.
A brilliant line break from Tarry brought Saints close, and Bath cynically failed to release the tackled player short of the line, resulting in their centre being sent to the bin. Saints remained patient and went for the tap and go, which Veevers crashed over from
The young Saints stayed in the fight right to the death and had a final try on the final whistle from Dare
Line ups:
Saints U18s: 15 Hardy Linnell, 14 Elijah Jeyes
13 Sonny Goode (c), 12 Cal Tarry, 11 Charlie Tamani
10 Fin Shields, 9 Caelin Chin; 1 Lucas Veevers
2 Kingsley Gallimore, 3 Aiden Reid, 4 Rafferty Hewitt, 5 Archie McHarg, 6 Seb Dare, 7 Reuben Williams, 8 Will Hepher
Replacements: 16 Charlie Utting, 17 Toby Seaman, 18 Ben Jones, 20 Harry Nath, 21 Kai Manson , 22 Ashton Cox, 23 Will Howes
Bath U18s: 15 Cynyr MacRae, 14 Tom Meredith, 13 Aston Barrington-Hibbert, 12 Declan Treacey, 11 Stan Walsh, 10 Max Hooper, 9 Ollie Lewis; 1 Henry Veale, 2 Malachi Randolph, 3 Ned Cartwright, 4 Henry Ball, 5 Louis Mortimore, 6 Alex Yeasbley, 7 Harry Hellier, 8 Georgia Faosiliva
Replacements: 16 Logan Jarvie, 17 Theo Lewis-Zdybel, 18 Sid Moore, 19 Filippo Hurrell, 20 Taotafa Faosiliva, 21 Oscar Harrison, 22 Cade Comer, 23 Ryan Carr