Reed: Saints U18s ‘thrived’ in pressure moments to win title

Northampton Saints’ Under-18s thrived in pressure moments to deliver Premiership Rugby Academy League glory, according to head coach Charlie Reed.

An unwanted run of three-successive Final defeats for the young Saints came to an end at Kingsholm Stadium as Northampton overturned a seven-point deficit at the break to defeat Bath 31-14 on Sunday evening.

“I think the new saying is fourth time lucky!” said Reed. “It was in the back of people’s minds and these lads seem to thrive in pressured moments rather than crumble. 

“I am extremely proud. The boys can all be so proud of their team performance. We speak a lot about us not just being an Academy, we want to feel like a rugby club with the way that we connect as a group culturally – getting to know one another and coming from all different schools and different backgrounds. I think it is great that we managed to put that on the pitch. 

Despite being the attacking aggressors in the first period, Saints went in at the break a converted try behind, with their only points coming from Jack Lewis’ try and a Hugh Shields conversion.

Problems were addressed in the second period as Saints landed 24 unanswered points to avenge last season’s defeat to the same opponents in the Final, with ultimately some comfort on the scoreboard.

“We were really calm at half-time, we know that Bath are fantastic around their set piece and we knew that was going be a bit of a challenge,” explained Reed. “We tidied up a few things around that, but all in all, we managed to put our game on the pitch consistently and the impacts of the bench really helped us with those elements as well. 

“These boys, some of them have been with the Academy since the age of 14, with great commitment and coaching throughout with the foundation phase and then ending with us in the in the development phase. I think that really showed, I thought the way that they competed was unbelievable.”

Flanker Lewis continued his prolific form from the group stages, with his second-half score taking him to seven tries from five games this season. His brace – and further five-pointers from James Hudson and Aiden Reid – were all converted by Shields – who added a late penalty for good measure.

Those two 16-year-olds drew special praise from their head coach, he said: “What was amazing was the composure and the maturity of some of the young boys. 

“In particular, the likes of Jack Lewis and Hugh Shields at fly-half controlling the game the way that he did, was just a real testament to his character. 

“He is only 16 years old, pulling the strings in the Academy League Final, so fair play to him.”

Reflecting on the team’s overall achievements, Reed added: “Mark Hopley, our Head of Academy, will always reference that it’s a collective effort and I want to align with that because I completely agree. 

“We can’t watch training back without training being filmed by our analyst Maddie [Wand], we can’t have players on the pitch without physios looking after them. You look at James Pater at fullback today, looking really robust in his collisions due to all the work that Stu [Logier] does with him.

“The Academy League Final is a great memory, but we don’t want it to be their biggest game they ever have. We want boys to go and represent our first team, go on to BUCS Super Rugby or play abroad or whatever that looks like.

“It is just a really good memory that they can always look back on and remember, and hopefully it’s only upwards for their own development, whether that’s with us or whether that’s through a new pathway.”