Northampton Saints U18s came away with a 46-24 defeat from their friendly against Saracens ahead of their return to PREM Next Gen action against Harlequins next weekend.
Despite tries from Charlie Hammick, Callum Tarry, Fin Shields and George Cooper, it was a defeat for the young Saints in Colchester, but head coach Charlie Reed insisted there were good things to take away from the friendly fixture.
“This game was an opportunity to give some lads some good playing opportunities that they hadn’t had in recent weeks,” Reed explained.
“We moved some lads around into different positions, and got what we needed out of it, and saw some good glimpses of how we can play. It wasn’t a bad hit out, and we had lots of good things to take away.”
FIRST HALF:
Saracens had the opening score of the game after they built pressure through multiple phases inside the Saints’ 22 and eventually went over from a rolling maul. They struck again immediately after with a kick in behind, catching the young Saints’ backfield unaware and chased it down for the finish.
Saints responded with some pressure of their own, remaining patient and building phases inside the visitors’ 22, and eventually it was captain Hammick who dotted down in the corner.
Saracens continued to dominate possession and territory for the majority of the opening half, but the Saints’ defence remained firm going into the break with a nine-point deficit.
SECOND HALF:
Saints came out of the blocks firing for the second period with an early score as Tarry crashed over the line from short range, but the visitors responded just a few minutes later, working their way downfield from the kickoff and bulldozed their way through to the line.
Saints next score had their attacking DNA flowing through the full attacking set as the boys in Black, Green and Gold launched from a scrum inside their 22 finished off by a lovely 40 metre run in from Shields.
The game had started to loosen up, and Saracens once again responded swiftly.
The fifth try for the visitors came from an entry inside the 22 and a cross-field kick, which was caught in the air and passed back inside by the winger to his supporting player, who dotted down.
Saints were staying in the fight, and after a handling mistake from Saracens inside their 22, Saints launched from a scrum and Cooper finished nicely.
Saracens’ speed at the breakdown was causing issues for the hosts’ defence, and eventually the visitors went over for another try from a multi-phase attack inside the Saints’ red zone and kept their foot on the gas until the final whistle, adding another from a rolling maul as the clock struck full-time.
LINE-UPS:
SAINTS: 15 Hardy Linell, 14 George Cooper, 13 Callum Tarry, 12 Ethan Horne, 11 Charlie Tamani, 10 Kai Fisher, 9 Harry Sturla; 1 Lucas Veevers, 2 Kingsley Gallimore, 3 Louie Dufty, 4 George Tonga’uiha, 5 Ted Warner, 6 Alex Mead, 7 Ronan Perkins, 8 Charlie Hammick.
Replacements: 16 Ferdi Barnett-Vincent, 17 Ben Jones, 18 Aiden Reid, 20 Archie McHarg, 21 Oscar Wells, 22 Sonny Goode, 23 Fin Shields, 24 Will Catley, 25 Elijah Jeyes
Northampton Saints U17s 19-41 Saracens U17s
Immediately following the friendly between the U18s was a friendly between Saints and Saracens U17s, which saw Saracens come away with another victory, despite a brace for Saints by Benji Patterson as well as another by Ben Bullen.