Northampton Saints U18s Head Coach Charlie Reed wants his side to go back to their DNA as they prepare for their home fixture against Bath at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens this weekend.
The young Saints have had a difficult start to 2026 in the PREM Rugby Next Gen Academy league, registering one out of a possible three victories so far and continue to manage a lengthy injury list ahead of the visit of a table-topping Bath side in Round 8 on Saturday.
“It’s not easy having a young group out there trying to figure it out,” Reed explained.
“But I think the most frustrating thing, is, if we’re going to lose, I still want to perform and do what we do in training, and that hasn’t been reflected over the last couple of weeks.
“It doesn’t matter how many injuries we have; it’s about giving a bunch of confidence to the next person in the shirt. I never ever want to sit here and say that injuries are the issue.
“It’s important that we give as much confidence as we can to whoever’s going to be in the shirt, and it’s a good opportunity to figure out where some of those younger lads are in their development.
“Playing Bath, there’s one thing you always need to know about them: they prioritise set pieces over everything else. They’re a side that can use their physical power to maul you over or pick and go from a few metres out and be really effective in the way that they play with that.
“I think for us it’s about being disciplined and not give them those 22 entries, but then also going and playing how we want to play and making sure that we play the game that looks like us; moving the ball rather than us playing within ourselves a little bit, which we’ve done over the last couple of weeks.
“So we just need to have the confidence to go out onto that first team pitch and play how we play.”
This weekend, Reed’s U18s side get the special opportunity to represent the Black, Green and Gold jersey on the first team pitch inside the stadium bowl.
“Some of these boys come to every home game and have been Saints fans since they were young,” Reed added.
“It’s been their dream to represent the shirt and play on that pitch, and this weekend, it will be a special opportunity for them to do that. It’ll be a good memory regardless of the result, but I think it’ll be even better if we deliver the performance we’ve been chasing over the last few weeks.”
Before the Academy play at home on Saturday, cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens will also play host to England vs Wales in the opening round of the U20s Six Nations – tickets are still available to buy HERE – and with the England side full of former Saints Academy players, Reed is looking forward to seeing how they perform.
“It’s great to see, obviously, it naturally fills you full of pride,” he added. “Watching those boys go out and put on an England shirt. It’s nice to see that they're getting the international recognition that they deserve.
“We saw how they adjusted well to the PREM Cup game last week against Leicester, with a few of the boys running out. We want them to have fantastic memories in an England shirt and go and show what they can do in a different environment, and keep getting the applause for it. It’s great to see those lads kick on.
“Something we’ve always said is we’re never going to judge ourselves by whether we lift an academy league trophy or not, we’re going to judge ourselves on the lads that come through the pathway and into that seniors side.”