Hard work is all Northampton Saints U18 Head Coach Charlie Reed is requesting from his side in their final match of the calendar year against Sale Sharks this weekend.
Having had a bye week in Round 1 of the competition, the young Saints enter Sunday’s at Lymm RFC clash with one win and one loss under their belts, currently sitting ninth in the Defender Next Gen Academy League.
“We’ve had a fair bit of a break since our last fixture,” Reed explained. “All we’ve targeted with the boys in the limited time that we’ve had with them in training is working as hard as we can and trying to be competitive in everything that we do.
“We’ve only had two sessions in preparation for this game, with lads being committed to their schools and clubs.
“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.”
Sunday’s opponents, who have played one extra game than Saints, currently sit sixth with two losses to Gloucester and Harlequins respectively and one narrow two-point win against Exeter in Round 2.
The Next Gen League season structure and the Saints players’ school and club commitments have left the squad with limited time to prepare for Sunday’s fixture. Those commitments have, however, have given the Saints coaches plenty of encouraging performances to watch.
“The lads have been with their schools and clubs following that last game in the summer away at Bath,” Reed added. “Carter Wright has made a really good start to the season and is set to make his Academy league debut in the back row. He’s really stood out to us as coaches, as has George Grewcock, who is also at Rugby School.
“Selorm Agroh, from Oundle, has also been really impressive and is in line to make his academy league debut from the bench, so there’s plenty to be excited about.”
Since the U18s’ last fixture, the Academy has celebrated another milestone, with Will Catley making his senior Saints debut against Saracens in the PREM Rugby Cup, to become Saint #2135. The centre, who is set to start at 13 this Sunday, marked the occasion with a try, becoming the Club’s youngest try-scorer of the professional era at just 17 years and 250 days.
“It’s unbelievable that Catley made his debut becoming the youngest try scorer of the professional era,” Reed continued.
“He’s gone from strength to strength, and the main thing I’m proud of is that when he went on that senior pre-season tour to Sri Lanka, which is a massive thing for a young man, the feedback was that he settled in seamlessly and held his own.
“It just shows how these lads can fit into these professional environments and feel themselves, which is a testament to both the senior coaches and the programme as a whole.”