'A clash of styles' - Saints Under-18s going for glory as they face Bath in the final again

For the fourth successive year, the Academy side has made it to the final of the Premiership Rugby Under-18 Academy League.

Saints were beaten by Bristol Bears in 2022, London Irish in 2023 and Bath in 2024.

But now they get the chance to claim revenge when they take on Bath in Sunday’s showpiece event (kick-off 7.05pm).

Saints booked their place in the final thanks to a flawless pool stage, which was rounded off by the recent 62-17 demolition of Leicester Tigers at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Junior Academy head coach Charlie Reed said: “Excitement is the main emotion that comes to mind.

"One thing we have noticed between ourselves and Bath is that we play two different styles of rugby. Bath seem to have a lot more of a territory plan in place with the way that they play and we go after the best space on offer to us and try to move the ball as well as we can.

“It’ll be a clash of styles which I think will be a good test for our lads.

"The boys also really enjoy playing teams that they don't play very often. We know that in our Northern League we will play Leicester, Newcastle and Sale so it’s a good opportunity to have a run out against a different opposition.

"The boys are very excited. You can tell they’re looking forward to giving themselves another crack in a final.

"They’ve gelled really well as a group. There’s been a mixture of emotions because we had our last training session together on Tuesday night so the next time we’ll see them is on Sunday when we’re ready to go.

"Normally it can be quite tricky to read the emotions of teenagers, but this week and last week it's been pretty straightforward. You can tell there's a lot of excitement in the environment.”

Saints were edged out 34-33 in a dramatic final against Bath at Kingsholm last season.

"The only thing that has come into conversation is what we can take from it and what we can learn from it,” Reed said. “There’s three or four players that are playing on Sunday that were involved in the final last year, so I think it’s just good learnings out of that.

“The only main aspect we’ve spoken about is how we can prep better, how we could start quicker - they're the only conversations that have really come into place in reflection on last year’s final.”

Saints have named an unchanged matchday squad for the final this weekend.

Second row Jack Lawrence captains the side once more, and Jack Lewis packs down at blindside flanker looking to add to his tally of five tries so far.

James Pater has scored four tries in as many games from full-back for a side that averaged nearly 48 points per game in their Northern League fixtures.

Outside centre Henry Lumley is the only player in the starting line-up that also ran out for last season’s final against Bath, when Saints were denied victory by a late try.

Ollie Hull, who was a replacement 12 months ago, goes from the first whistle this time in the second row.

Saints Under-18s v Bath: 15 James Pater; 14 Ernie Jackson, 13 Henry Lumley, 12 Freddie St John, 11 Charlie Tamani; 10 Hugh Shields, 9 Harry Evans; 1 Matt Browne, 2 Zack Garrett, 3 Aiden Reid; 4 Ollie Hull, 5 Jack Lawrence (c), 6 Jack Lewis, 7 Harry Price, 8 Siep Walta.

Replacements: 16 Ferdi Barnett-Vincent, 17 Lucas Veevers, 19 Mark Miska-Alvarez, 20 James Hudson, 21 Lucas Norton, 22 Max Innes, 23 Sonny Goode.