Premiership U18s Finals Day preview: The players to watch out for as the top 6 sides in England collide
The annual Premiership U18 Finals Day sees the top six sides in the country come together to duke it out for finals standings in the competition, with all involved eager to impress and earn a professional contract for the next season.
Allianz Park hosts the event this Sunday, where the top three sides from the southern conference and their equivalents from the northern conference will playoff with one another to decide the final top six.
Harlequins take on Sale Sharks in the 5th/6th playoff, a rematch from the 2018 season, whilst Bath will contest with Wasps for the 3rd/4th playoff, with the West Country side making their first appearance at Finals Day for a number of years. Finally, Leicester Tigers, the reigning champions at this level, will face Gloucester for top spot, another rematch from the 2018 season.
Harlequins vs Sale Sharks
Halfway through the season, it looked as if Quins were on a path to be playing in the final on Sunday, but a crazy finish to the end of their game with Gloucester, which saw them concede three tries in six minutes, and a narrow loss at home to Bath mean that they are kicking off earlier in the day. It’s a strong group, though, and their desire to keep the ball in hand and stretch the opposition should make for an entertaining contest with the similarly-minded Sale. The return of Hayden Hyde and the reforming of his midfield partnership with Lennox Anyanwu certainly won’t hurt their chances.
Sale also have just cause to feel disappointed to not be battling it out for a higher spot, with their home game against Newcastle Falcons being postponed due to snow and recorded as a draw, a game they would have fancied their chances of taking at least four points from. They will get plenty of impetus out of their half-back combination of Raffie Quirke and Tom Curtis, both of whom will flourish if the Sale pack can generate front-foot ball for them.
Results don’t mean too much at this level, but both sides’ repeated recent appearances at Finals Day has been indicative of the strong work being done in their junior academies. Both clubs have pathways that have been working well, with strong homegrown cores being moulded to take them forward, and there are a number of players involved on Sunday who will only add to that in the coming years.
Players to Watch
Sam Riley, Harlequins
A dynamic hooker who is adept across the board. Riley is a strong set-piece front rower, whilst offering plenty in the loose, too, with his ability to win the contact and offload key to the tempo and ambition that Quins play with at this level. If it were not for Alfie Barbeary up at Wasps drawing so much praise and buzz this season, there would be a lot more excitement about Riley. Both he and Quins will probably be content to pass along under the radar for now.
Tom Curtis, Sale Sharks
A versatile playmaker, Curtis is the latest in what looks to be becoming a production line of creative ball-players in the north-west. With Kieran Wilkinson and Cam Redpath in the group last year, Curtis often found himself used on the wing or in the midfield, but he is now consistently pulling the back line’s strings from 10. It will be interesting to see where Sale view Curtis fitting into the team in the long-term, with a spot at full-back not out of the question, either, given his impressive skill set.
Harlequins: Louis Lynagh, Oscar Beard, Hayden Hyde, Lennox Anyanwu, Tom Allen; Luc Smith, Mikel Davies; Jon Benz-Salomon, Sam Riley, Finlay Baxter; Elliott Powell, Enzo Croy; Harry Dugmore, Jack Reid, Will Trenholm.
Replacements: Dylan Thomas, Theo Bevacqua, Aristot Benz-Salomon, Jack Ryder, Ted Johnson, Jake Williams, Jack Potter, James Bourton.
Sale Sharks: Cal Grieve, Tom Roebuck, Dan Kelly, Elliot Gourlay, Oli Melville; Tom Curtis, Raffie Quirke; Harry Harding, Ethan Caine, James Harper; Ollie Leatherbarrow, Ewan Murphy; Joe Johnson, John Bailey, Josh Hadland.
Replacements: Ben Patchett, Tom Clarke, Corey Bowker, Ciaran Sutcliffe, Sam Higginson, Will Davies, Jacob Ainscough, Cam Melville.
Bath vs Wasps
Without a doubt, this is one of the more impressive Bath sides in recent years. They have arguably punched below their weight at this level in recent seasons and maybe only pushed through one or two players who have gone on to have success – so far – at the senior club level. With several players already inked to professional contracts for the coming summer and the group having narrowly missed out on a spot in the final against Leicester, the future looks promising for Andy Rock’s side.
As for Wasps, they started the season slowly, with heavy defeats to Sale and Leicester, but their form in the second half of the campaign has been excellent. They really found their feet in the final three games of the season, averaging 54 points scored in those contests and they take plenty of momentum into their match-up with Bath. Their pack is littered with effective carriers that will seek to get them on the front-foot, some of whom will fancy their chances of playing time next season. The back row contest of Alfred Mawdsley, Dan Eckersley and James Tunney versus Will Hendy, Xavier Hastings and Nahum Merigan is particularly intriguing.
Whilst the junior academies have produced talent in recent years, the pathways to the senior squads at both clubs have been relatively quiet. Bath have pushed through Zach Mercer and Darren Atkins, whilst Wasps have leant heavily on Jack Willis, but neither club will have been as productive transitioning those junior prospects into senior contributors as they would have liked. In these two squads, they have players capable of complementing their senior academies and improving those track records in the seasons to come, as long as there is the buy-in from the senior coaches.
Players to Watch
Max Ojomoh, Bath
English rugby, after having gone heavily down the dual-playmaker route, is seeing a resurgence in ball-carrying inside centres and Ojomoh certainly ticks this box. He has a good passing game and can keep phases alive with an array of offloads, but it’s as a carrier where he’s separated himself this season, capable of puncturing holes in defences and displaying deceptive power, due to the speed and footwork he possesses. All of those attributes, coupled with his low centre of gravity, are not too dissimilar to those of Ollie Lawrence when he played at this level last season, and if Ojomoh can enjoy the same transition to the seniors as the Worcester centre, he’ll be in a good place moving forward.
Alfie Barbeary, Wasps
An obvious call here that even rugby fans who take no interest in the age-grades will have begun to hear of. The hooker has been regularly involved in Wasps’ Premiership Shield side and captained both Wasps and England U18s last season as an U17. He’s extremely powerful in the contact, allowing him to break tackles, as well as win collisions and get offloads away with equal abandon. He leads from the front, delivers at the set-piece and seems to have the confidence to make that leap to senior level as seamlessly as possible. Wasps have a gem in the young front rower.
Bath: George Worboys, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Ruben Moxham, Max Ojomoh, Felix Connolly; Orlando Bailey, Will Cook; Jamie Guest, Bradley Law, Archie Griffin; Ewan Richards, Ethan Staddon; Will Hendy, Xavier Hastings, Nahum Merigan.
Replacements: John Stewart, Archie Alexander, Jack Bertinet, Frankie Read, Ed Wallrock, Ayden Chenoweth, Tom Carr-Smith, Nat Arnold.
Wasps: Tom Bacon, Simone Panella, Toby Baldwin, Ricky Ma’asi, Jude Williams; Charlie Atkinson, Henry Mortimer; Zac Nearchou, Alfie Barbeary, Jordan Cordice; Anjo Ademuwagun, Mario Pichardie; Alfred Mawdsley, Dan Eckersley, James Tunney.
Replacements: Alex Pleasants, James Coombs, Alex Sabin, Nik Jakobsen, Greg Fisilau, Ollie Monye, Evan Mitchell, Tane Dunn.
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Gloucester vs Leicester Tigers
Aside from a loss away to London Irish earlier this month, Gloucester had a clean sweep of wins this season, with perhaps their most impressive coming in the narrow home victories over both Bath and Harlequins. The high-tempo and width they like to play with are a trademark of any Richard Whiffin-coached side and it is no mean feat for them to be back in the final this season, after having lost many of the title-contending group from last year, plenty of whom were given professional contracts at the club.
There is no denying that Leicester are currently the dominant force in English age-grade rugby, with the side dismantling Gloucester in last year’s final and having not let up at all this season. In fact, they haven’t tasted defeat at U18 level since February of 2017 and again, whilst emphasising that results are not the primary importance at this level, the quality and quantity of player coming out of the set-up is looking very positive for Tigers moving forward.
If Gloucester want to avoid the one-sided contest that last year’s final against Leicester proved to be, they will need to find a way to consistently break the gain-line and therefore get their faster style catching Tigers flat-footed. As for Leicester, if they can slow Gloucester down at the contact area and exert the same kind of physicality that they have all season long, it could prove an arduous 70 minutes for the young Cherry and Whites, whilst the dual-playmaker axis of Harry Glynn and current Wales U20 fly-half Sam Costelow will keep Gloucester on their toes defensively.
Players to Watch
Jack Clement, Gloucester
In regard to Gloucester’s attempt to breach the Leicester defence, Clement could and should prove key. The mobile number eight, albeit deployed on the blindside this weekend, is a weapon with the ball in his hand and he is going to have to pick up a lot of the slack against a Leicester side that are used to physically dominating opponents. It’ll be interesting to watch Clement’s development in the seniors, particularly whether Gloucester try and turn him into an elusive number eight, such as Zach Mercer or Sam Simmonds, or whether they see his future on the flank, where he packs down on Sunday. Either way, it looks bright.
Freddie Steward, Leicester Tigers
One way Gloucester can try to take Leicester’s physicality out of the contest is by moving them around and turning them with a clever kicking game. The only issue with this approach is it likely plays into Steward’s hands, with the full-back more than capable of hurting Gloucester on the counter-attack. He’s quick, tall and good in the air, allowing him to deal with the pragmatics of being a full-back, whilst his eye for a gap and an effective short kicking game mean he is far from a one-trick pony. Keeping the ball out of his hands will be a priority for Gloucester.
Gloucester: Brooke Turner, Louis Hillman-Cooper, Isaac Marsh, Tommy Mathews, Louis Rees-Zammit; George Barton, Stephen Varney; Harry Fry, Ethan Hunt, Jenson Boughton; Archie Benson, Joe Howard; Jack Clement, Josh Gray, Harry Taylor.
Replacements: Leyton Chambers, Marcus Reading, Harry Daynes, Freddie Thomas, Seb Blake, Matty Jones, Oli Parmar, Max Fletcher.
Leicester Tigers: Freddie Steward, Leo Gilliland, Ronnie du Randt, Sam Costelow, Joe Browning; Harry Glynn, Jack van Poortvliet; James Whitcombe, Archie Vanes, Rob Hardwick; George Martin, Tom Manz; Emeka Ilione, Samuel Eveleigh, Ollie Ashworth.
Replacements: Shaun Allsopp, Alex Maxwell, Jack Rowntree, Will Backhouse, Kit Smith, Jonny Law, Matt Potts, Ollie Smith.
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Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments