A terrific display in both attack and defence allowed Warriors Under 18s to defeat Yorkshire Carnegie Under 18s 39-10 at Shaw Lane on Saturday, as they secured back-to-back wins in the Premiership Rugby Under 18 Academy League.
Tries from backs Nick David and Alex Bartley gave Warriors a strong lead midway through the first-half and they made the most of their dominance before half-time, with Ollie Lawrence and Beck Cutting scoring to give the away team a 22-point advantage going into the second period.
A Harry Davey penalty gave Carnegie their first points of the match but a try from Warriors second-row James Scott dented any comeback hopes.
The home team eventually scored their first try through Oliver Fox but Warriors’ George Wooten went over before his replacement George Hawkes scored, as the visitors completed the rout with two tries in the space of three minutes towards the end of the contest.
The opening period of the game was controlled by Carnegie with good breaks on halfway forcing Warriors back early on.
But that was as good as it got in the first-half for the home team, with Warriors taking control of the match and not looking back.
The first try was orchestrated from a great move by Wooten, with his dummy allowing himself time and space to offload to winger David on the right wing to score.
Warriors maintained the pressure after the restart, and nearly forced another try with a loose pass forcing Carnegie's Louis Brown to scramble back to prevent a second score.
Carnegie could not prevent the away team from going further ahead for long though, with a rampaging scrum leading to a slick offload for Bartley to score on the left wing.
Lawrence got in on the act just five minutes later when he collected from a maul just inside the opposition half and bruised his way through three tackles to bundle over for an excellent solo try.
Wooten added the extras for a 17-point lead, and nearly scored himself when he stole the ball from Rian Hamilton, but was unlucky to be forced into touch on the 22.
They did have time for one more try before half-time with hooker Cutting carrying the ball over when an effective maul made ten metres to get over the line.
The losing side came out fighting at the start of the second period, and a penalty from Davey gave the Yorkshire outfit a glimpse of hope that a comeback was possible.
But just as Carnegie looked like getting back into the match, Warriors punished more defensive frailties to reconsolidate their dominance.
Their supremacy at set-pieces was a theme throughout and another powerful, driving maul crossed the tryline once again, with Scott in possession to touch down.
Following the fifth try, Carnegie started to have sustained pressure and phases in Warriors' half for the first time in the match.
That pressure led to the home team's only try of the afternoon, with Fox able to drive over next to the posts after a penalty five metres out was taken quickly and passed by Sam Wolstenholme. Fly-half Davey converted in front of the posts to narrow the gap.
Carnegie were punished further in the closing quarter when good build-up play allowed good gains to be made and with Warriors camped just shy of the tryline, Wooten was able to take advantage of a lapse in concentration to collect from the ruck to score.
Wooten's conversion would be his last involvement in the game and he was replaced by Hawkes, who made an immediate impact just two minutes after coming on.
Ted Hill broke through another gap in the porous Carnegie defensive line and Hawkes was on hand to receive in a two-on-one situation to round off the scoring for the visiting team and complete a comprehensive victory.
Warriors Academy Forwards Transition Coach Mike Hill admitted he was impressed with the all-round performance from his side, particularly without the ball.
He said: "I thought the defensive efforts were outstanding, and we showed that if we stay connected and stay to our system we can get turnovers and get ball in hand for the backs to use.
"We've been getting a bit of a reputation as a set-piece team and we challenged the boys to work harder around the pitch and to get into more ball-carrying positions and everyone has responded really well to that."
Timeline
10m | David try 0-5
18m | Bartley try 0-10
24m | Lawrence try 0-15
25m | Wooten con 0-17
34m | Cutting try 0-22
36m | Davey pen 3-22
39m | Scott try 3-27
48m | Fox try 8-27
49m | Davey con 10-27
55m | Wooten try 10-32
56m | Wooten con 10-34
59m | Hawkes try 10-39
Warriors | 15 Nick David (Jackson 46), 14 Christophe Fostier, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Will Butler, 11 Alex Bartley (King 46), 10 Alex Forrester, 9 George Wooten, 1 Tom Furnival (Owen 35), 2 Beck Cutting (Baggs 50), 3 Nick Rigby (Harrison 50), 4 Lawrence Weston, 5 James Scott, 6 Ollie Richardson (Fawcett 16), 7 Charlie Jevon-Fellows (Thorneywork 46), 8 Ted Hill (Jevon-Fellows 61)
Replacements | 16 Cameron Harrison, 17 Max Baggs, 18 Kai Owen, 19 Ollie Thorneywork, 20 Tom Fawcett, 21 George Hawkes, 22 Louis Jackson, 23 Dion King