U18 Development Squad

[Timbo]

Ioan Jones sounds suspiciously and worryingly Welsh.

[Gloskarlos]

He’s a Gloucester lad but does have Welsh connections I believe. He’s also a year young for that age group

[FKAS]

If he finds out he's also Irish qualified then he's on the plane!

Given the last name probably Scottish qualified to best get him capped early.

[Epaminondas Pules]

He’s a Gloucester lad but does have Welsh connections I believe. He’s also a year young for that age group

English mum, Welsh dad. Born and schooled in England. Chose England representation at school grade but could go either direction post school.

[Slater582]

The RFU Academy Festival was held at Malvern earlier this month. All 13 Premiership clubs were represented in addition to Yorkshire academy. Women’s Centres of Excellence were also present bringing the total number of players at the event to over a thousand.

Does anyone know if the U18 summer tours to South Africa are back on

This tour is indeed returning for the first time since 2019. They're due to play three games in Cape Town during the last couple of weeks in August.

First game is today. All three fixtures are against South Africa opposition.

In terms of standouts, which is always somewhat subjective, i like Trevett and Sela on either side of the scrum. Baker looks a very good lock, whilst Perkins and Pollock look like good prospects.

Henry Pollock is skipper for the opening game.

1. Louie Trevett 2. Jacob Oliver 3. Billy Sela
4. Olamide Sodeke 5. Tom Burrow
6. Jack Bennett 8. Barney Merrett 7. Henry Pollock

9. Archie McParland 10. Rory Taylor
12. Sean Kerr 13. Ben Redshaw
11. Toby Cousins 15. Ioan Jones 14. Tom Burton

Bench: 16. Loic Keasey 17. Alex O’Driscoll18. Isaac Keller 19. Finn Baker 20. Will Owen 21. George Perkins 22. Will Wooton 23. Raff Weston 24. George Edson 25. Conor Byrne 26. Will Glister

[Which Tyler]

2.30 BST
https://supersportschools.com/

[fivepointer]

We lost 24-40.
Highlights here -

[Timbo]

Eng u18’s won 36-34 after being 15 points down at half time.

Impressive showing (in both games really) when you consider most of the England boys are a year younger than the South Africans. Because of the way the school years run all the England players will be 17 (a few are 16 I believe) and have a year left at school, whereas the Saffas will pretty much all be 18 and school leavers.

[Epaminondas Pules]

France lost to SA A last week in a close game and got proper humped by SA this week.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Sela (2), Redshaw, Owen and Glister got our tries.

[Which Tyler]

Sela (2), Redshaw, Owen and Glister got our tries.

Good to hear from the big boy - I believe I've mentioned before, there's a lot of hype about Billy from the Bath fans (though one of them is his ex-coach, so salt may need to be taken)

[Epaminondas Pules]

Sela (2), Redshaw, Owen and Glister got our tries.

Good to hear from the big boy - I believe I've mentioned before, there's a lot of hype about Billy from the Bath fans (though one of them is his ex-coach, so salt may need to be taken)

That hype is echoed by many people outside of Bath too Which. Looks a good un!

[fivepointer]

Good comeback from the lads. Gave away 2 interception tries but won thanks to a late penalty.

[Epaminondas Pules]

England lose the final game 44 v 41 despite largely dominating. We outscored them 7 tries to 5, but just couldn’t quite finish it off.

[Slater582]

Team for the final match was almost identical to the opening game. Perkins replaced Barney Merrett in the pack. Glister came in for Burton.

Seven different try scorers in Jack Bennett, Louie Trevett, Will Glister, Loic Keasey, Henry Pollock, Archie McParland & George Edson. Sean Kerr only converted three of them.