U18 Summer Series

[Epaminondas Pules]

Good news for us that Gillouin Lemaire is on the bench and not starting

[FKAS]

Potentially attacking tired defence off the bench though.

Mendes Tania starts and I've heard he's very highly rated over in France, Spanish born but at Toulon from an early age.

[fivepointer]

As expected lots of changes in our starting XV

England U18 Men’s squad to face France (Academy and U18 caps)
15 Ajay Edwards (Newcastle Falcons, 2 caps)
14 Will Payton (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
13 Krystof Wood (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
12 Ollie Batson (Exeter Chiefs, 1 cap)
11 Charlie Tamani (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
10 Oscar Talbot (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
9 Will Bayston (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)
1 Aiden Reid (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
2 Marcus Southwell (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
3 Seva Batikora (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
4 Freddie Jones (Saracens, 1 cap)
5 Henry Laidlow (c) (Harlequins, 5 caps)
6 Henry Horsfall (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
7 AJ Henry (Saracens, 1 cap)
8 Jordan Ikeh (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)

Replacements
16 Casper Wheeler (Bristol Bears, 1 cap)
17 Oliver Spencer (Sale Sharks, 5 caps)
18 Lawrence Ogbonnaya (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)
19 Kwame Bekoe (Leicester Tigers, 1 cap)
20 Charlie Bray (Sale Sharks, 3 caps)
21 Jack Lewis (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
22 James Townsend (Leicester Tigers, 3 caps)
23 Hugh Shields (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)
24 Declan Treacey (Bath Rugby, 4 caps
25 Sonny Goode (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
26 Junior Denny (Gloucester Rugby, 5 caps)

[Epaminondas Pules]

Potentially attacking tired defence off the bench though.

Mendes Tania starts and I've heard he's very highly rated over in France, Spanish born but at Toulon from an early age.

He's got a lot of good reviews. Mobile and strong. Scored a brace against the Saffers. I've not seen much of him, but do know he is highly rated.

[Epaminondas Pules]

England 13 v 34 France at half time. Once again a terrible start from England with tackling appearing to be optional. Fought our way back in and then undone by too awful moments. One Talbot trying a drop goal that couldn't have been any less on than if the ball was made of liquid and he'd got no legs! France charge down and score; and then a misjudged high ball from Edwards and France pick up and score. Then conceded one mkore when we got turned over on our five metre scrum. * pickup, stopped short and the 10 powers over.

Ref is all over the place. Scrum is all over the place for both sides. Both packs seem to be demolishing each other randomly at scrum time. Our lineout is horrifically bad. France ar not much better there. Both sides look dangerous with ball in hand. Until we realise we've not box kicked for a while and do that instead just to give France the ball.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Final score England 20 v 51 France. Messy as shit. Got quite tasty towards the end. The ref had little to no control. A couple of the French lads needed a good slap. Mouthy (not so) little cunts. French 8 especially needed his chin testing.

Scrum was a lottery, lineout an absolute disgrace. Talbot had a mare at 10.

[FKAS]

Final score England 20 v 51 France. Messy as shit. Got quite tasty towards the end. The ref had little to no control. A couple of the French lads needed a good slap. Mouthy (not so) little cunts.

Doing so cost us though the England 20 starting a fight over nothing when we had a lineout near halfway ended up with France kicking to the corner and then driving over.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Final score England 20 v 51 France. Messy as shit. Got quite tasty towards the end. The ref had little to no control. A couple of the French lads needed a good slap. Mouthy (not so) little cunts.

Doing so cost us though the England 20 starting a fight over nothing when we had a lineout near halfway ended up with France kicking to the corner and then driving over.

We'd have lost the lineout anyway as we had all game.

And yes that was the time not to do it, as he just went over and shoved the French 10 for no reason whatsoever.

[FKAS]

Final score England 20 v 51 France. Messy as shit. Got quite tasty towards the end. The ref had little to no control. A couple of the French lads needed a good slap. Mouthy (not so) little cunts.

Doing so cost us though the England 20 starting a fight over nothing when we had a lineout near halfway ended up with France kicking to the corner and then driving over.

We'd have lost the lineout anyway as we had all game.

And yes that was the time not to do it, as he just went over and shoved the French 10 for no reason whatsoever.

There's a time and a place for roughing up the 10 and that's not when the ref can see it.

Overall we looked less physical and didn't seem to be enjoying what looked a heavy pitch.

[fivepointer]

Only caught the highlights. We should be very disappointed by conceding some of those tries but we have chosen to go with a young squad so getting a physical going over is to be expected. Its tough for these lads.
Wont get any easier against SA, who easily beat Ireland. SA "B" put away Georgia pretty comfortably too.
Probably wouldnt make a huge difference but couldnt SA provide a better playing surface than the one we've had to play on?

[Epaminondas Pules]

Even just a lawnmower wouldn’t go amiss!

[Which Tyler]

Terrible defence for the first french try.
Simple cut-back move for 13, finds a disconnect in the line.

Really weird call on 10 minutes.
France try to chip over the top, England try to charge it down - succeed, and get blown for a knock on.
Ball is still gaining altitude when it hits his hands

[Which Tyler]

2nd French try is very good.
Poor kick by England (too deep, too shallow) off slow ball, but certainly not in a way that helped make the try.


Hmmm
22 minutes, France give away 2 penalties at 2 different positions on the pitch.
Eng9 takes a quick tap and go from the 2nd location, and crosses the try line.
Ref disallows as he's forgotten that England get the choice of location, and is only interested in the first penalty.

We scored anyway off the lineout, but still.

Of course, ref is also young, and learning, and he'll be better for the feedback he receirfrom this.

[Which Tyler]

French try #4 is a beauty.
Messy pair of charge-downs, ruck, and a stunningly placed and weighted kick to the corner with the French winger winning the foot race

[Which Tyler]

Eng13 - 34 Fra
HT
It feels we've started our weaker options,whilst France have started their stronger (but not weakest v strongest), but momentum has been all one-way.

I'm pretty sure O'Shea is setting the U18s up to learn to play together in adversity, in order to come through strong in the 6N, but this is a big ask for today.
Needs good half time chat to get heads back up, and some individuals to put in a rallying performance.

[Which Tyler]

Fought our way back in and then undone by too awful moments. One Talbot trying a drop goal that couldn't have been any less on than if the ball was made of liquid and he'd got no legs! France charge down and score; and then a misjudged high ball from Edwards and France pick up and score.

Wait... That was a drop goal attempt? Seriously? It didn't even occur to me that that's what he was trying - never remotely an option.
I thought he'd just run out of ideas, so kicked the ball by default - wasn't even a KADAB given the position on the pitch

[Epaminondas Pules]

Eng13 - 34 Fra
HT
It feels we've started our weaker options,whilst France have started their stronger (but not weakest v strongest), but momentum has been all one-way.

I'm pretty sure O'Shea is setting the U18s up to learn to play together in adversity, to come through strong in the 6N, but this is a big ask for today.
aNeeds good half time chat to get heads back up, and some individuals to put in a rallying performance.

The Talbot drop goal attempt followed by Edwards misjudging the high ball just killed us. We'd fought back pretty well after another awful start, but then conceding those two from big mistakes effectively ended the game.

[Epaminondas Pules]

Fought our way back in and then undone by too awful moments. One Talbot trying a drop goal that couldn't have been any less on than if the ball was made of liquid and he'd got no legs! France charge down and score; and then a misjudged high ball from Edwards and France pick up and score.

Wait... That was a drop goal attempt? Seriously? It didn't even occur to me that that's what he was trying - never remotely an option.

Yeah, mental innit. I had to go back and watch again as I couldn't believe it ever entered his head.

[Which Tyler]

The Talbot drop goal attempt followed by Edwards misjudging the high ball just killed us. We'd fought back pretty well after another awful start, but then conceding those two from big mistakes effectively ended the game.

We were pretty heads down by then already - which might explain the brainless attempt at a DG.
I still say hats off to the French for converting the opportunity though, that kick to the corner was on a dime!

I don't mind the misread high ball so much, sounds very windy, and both teams were doing that, whilst also very inexperienced. Just a bugger that it ended in a French try.

[Epaminondas Pules]

The Talbot drop goal attempt followed by Edwards misjudging the high ball just killed us. We'd fought back pretty well after another awful start, but then conceding those two from big mistakes effectively ended the game.

We were pretty heads down by then already - which might explain the brainless attempt at a DG.
I still say hats off to the French for converting the opportunity though, that kick to the corner was on a dime!

I don't mind the misread high ball so much, sounds very windy, and both teams were doing that, whilst also very inexperienced. Just a bugger that it ended in a French try.

100%! Execution was mint!

It's more the error on top of error. Probably being extra harsh cause he's a bloody good player.

[Which Tyler]

Oh, it's annoying, I'm just plenty forgiving given age, experience and the fact that lots of players were struggling to judge the flight of the ball

[Which Tyler]

Needs good half time chat to get heads back up, and some individuals to put in a rallying performance.

Treacey's trying, but he's not bringing others along with him to increase intensity. Scores a try on a simple crash-ball.
Captaincy issue? Or had heads already dropped too much? Obviously, I've read spoilers at HT

And as I type, France strike straight back

[Which Tyler]

Unnecessary by Eng 20, but no excuse for Fra 23.

Surprised the pen isn't reversed. Running in and punching someone in the face seems significantly worse than an unnecessary shove.

Especially given that France were already on a warning (not sure if same player)

[Which Tyler]

French try for 46 points is deserved, if only for the really shit dive by Eng25 trying to kid a push to the back, rather than securing the damned ball

[Epaminondas Pules]

Final games vs SA

15 Ajay Edwards (Newcastle Red Bulls, Durham School, Peterlee and Horden Rugby Club and Durham City, 3 caps)
14 Krystof Wood (Gloucester Rugby, Bromsgrove School, Bromsgrove Rugby Club, 2 caps)
13 Ollie Batson (Exeter Chiefs, Exeter School, Exmouth RFC, 2 caps)
12 Declan Treacey (c) (Bath Rugby, Beechen Cliff School, New Milton Rugby Club, 5 caps)
11 Charlie Tamani (Northampton Saints, Finborough School, Bury St. Edmunds RUFC, 6 caps)
10 Hugh Shields (Northampton Saints, Northampton School for Boys, Old Northamptonians RFC, 5 caps)
9 James Townsend (Leicester Tigers, Warwick School, Harbury RFC, 4 caps)

1 Oliver Spencer (Sale Sharks, Grammar School at Leeds, Harrogate RUFC, 6 caps)
2 Casper Wheeler (Bristol Bears, Hartpury College, Winscombe RFC, 2 caps)
3 Lawrence Ogbonnaya (Sale Sharks, Kirkham Grammar School, Winnington Park Rugby Club, 3 caps)
4 Kwame Bekoe (Leicester Tigers, Norwich School, Norwich Rugby Club, 2 caps)
5 Henry Laidlow (Harlequins, Trinity School, Twickenham RFC, 6 caps)
6 Henry Horsfall (Gloucester Rugby, Kings Worcester, Clee Hill RUFC, 2 caps)
7 Jack Lewis (Northampton Saints, Northampton School for Boys, Ashby RFC, 4 caps)
8 Charlie Bray (Sale Sharks, Kirkham Grammar School, Preston Grasshoppers RFC, 4 caps)

Replacements
16 Marcus Southwell (Leicester Tigers, Oakham School, Market Harborough RFC, 2 caps)
17 Aiden Reid (Northampton Saints, Northampton School for Boys, Olney RFC, 3 caps)
18 Seva Batikora (Leicester Tigers, Brooksby College, Stamford Rugby, 2 caps)
19 Freddie Jones (Saracens, Sutton Valence School, Tunbridge Wells RFC, 2 caps)
20 Jordan Ikeh (Sale Sharks, Stockport Grammar, Stockport Rugby Club, 2 caps)
21 AJ Henry (Saracens, Mill Hill, Dartford Valley Rugby Club, 2 caps)
22 Will Bayston (Sale Sharks, Sedbergh School, Selby RUFC, 2 caps)
23 Oscar Talbot (Leicester Tigers, Rugby School, Barkers Butts RFC, 6 caps)
24 Will Payton (Leicester Tigers, Warwick School, Silhillians Rugby Club, 2 cap)
25 Sonny Goode (Northampton Saints, Bloxham School, Banbury Rugby Club, 1 cap)