U18 Finals Day Review: Saracens Finish with a Flourish
Saracens U18s were victorious in their final game of the campaign as they took down Leicester Tigers U18s at the Kingsholm Stadium in fine style.
The North Londoners ran in nine tries against the Tigers in the third-placed play-off, rounding off a pulsating academy league campaign for Sarries future stars. It didn't take long for Saracens to get started on the score sheet with Gabriel Registe powering his way over for the initial score.
Five minutes later and Sarries turned on the flair, some slick handling and fast pace out wide from Noah Caluori allowed for the winger to glide in for his first try of the afternoon. The Men in Black continued to apply pressure to Tigers, which soon told as Ryan Jones capitalised on some turnover ball.
Leicester did pull one back soon after, dotting down for their first score just past the half hour mark. But it would be Saracens who would have the last say of the half, incredible interplay from Noah Caluori and Ben Morrow set the fullback through the middle to cross underneath the sticks.
The second half started with a bang for North London outfit, with an impressive early score. After some strong carrying from the forward pack, Zac Finch managed to break through the line and have the pace to race clear.
Five minutes later, Finch was in again outpacing Will Payton to score in the corner. Then, in what was proving to be a back and forth second half, Leicester notched up another score to keep them in the game. Alex Mason quickly replied off the restart with another try in the corner, converted superbly by Ben Morrow who was faultless off the tee all evening.
Leicester then managed to pull back three more tries in quick succession, the final effort seeing the Tigers run the length following a well-timed intercept.
However in similar fashion to the first half, Saracens would bag the final two score. Replacement Finn Keylock put himself at the heart of the attack, setting up tries for Marlon Farouk-Roy and Noah Caluori in the final 10 minutes, which he subsequently converted.
Having only lost one game all season, U18s Head Coach Jack Pattinson is extremely proud of the efforts shown by his young side across the last few weeks.
"It's been a really positive season for this team, everyone across the 45-man squad has had a massive part to play in successes on the pitch. The final was a great epitomisation of that, with 23 players getting valuable game time in a positive victory against a prestigious academy. I'm excited to see how far these players can go across the next few years of their careers."
