REPORT | Warriors U18 20-19 Yorkshire Carnegie U18

BY OLI HIGGS

Warriors Under 18s needed a last-minute penalty to overcome Yorkshire Carnegie 20-19 in a nail-biting clash in the Premiership Rugby Under 18 Academy League at Sixways on Sunday afternoon.

A strong performance from Carnegie saw them build a 19-10 lead, but for the second time in as many weeks, Warriors came back in the second-half to win in the dying moments.

It was a fast-paced opening to the encounter at a chilly Sixways, with both sides willing to play an attacking brand of rugby. With that, however, came mistakes, as a number of offloads failed to go to hand throughout the match.

The visitors were the first to strike through James Willis, driving over after a penalty was kicked to the corner, making the score 5-0.

Warriors’ response came when the illusive Noah Heward collected the ball on the 10-metre line and he evaded countless Carnegie defenders before rounding the last line of defence to touch down.

Both sides were frustrated by mistakes throughout the first-half, but Warriors’ front row of Lewis Holsey, Jamie White and Max Baggs carried impressively.

With just minutes remaining in the first period, Warriors did gain the advantage as some slick handling down the left wing put White close before Oli Thorneywork powered over from close range to give Warriors a 10-5 lead.

No sooner were they ahead, the hosts fell behind once again. Carnegie, this time sent the ball wide and their offloads down the left flank found support runners and full-back Joe Carpenter crossed the tryline. Dan Lancaster’s conversion was the last action of the first-half as Carnegie led 12-10.

Warriors’ attempts to produce another comeback started poorly when lock George Packer was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle. He would redeem himself later though, returning with an abrasive final 20-minute display.

Carnegie capitalised on their man advantage when Andre Robson cut a fantastic line from set-piece ball to score under the posts. A regulation conversion meant that Warriors required another stellar 25 minutes to record back-to-back victories having fought back against Northampton Saints the previous weekend.

Again, Warriors found an extra gear when it mattered, building the phases and exerting more pressure on the visitors’ defence. It took another moment of magic from Heward to make it count though as the full-back darted through several tackles before he was tackled five metres out. After some quick phases and scramble defence from Carnegie, Heward himself finished his second, taking the score to 19-17.

With replacement Josh Phipps’ conversion, Warriors were just two points behind and they continued to pressurise Carnegie both with ball in hand and in defence. Worcester’s replacement front row drove the Yorkshire scrum back before a huge effort in defence secured Warriors a chance to win the game with a penalty.

Phipps duly slotted the kick from in front of the posts and Warriors were ahead 20-19.

But before the hosts could celebrate, Carnegie were awarded a penalty just inside the Warriors half and Lancaster stepped up admirably, but could not find the distance with the clock already past 70 minutes and time up.

The Under 18s are back in action next Saturday 20 January against Leicester Tigers at Oval Park (kick-off 12pm).

Timeline:
09m | Willis try 5-0
21m | Heward try 5-5
32m | Thorneywork try 10-5
35m | Carpenter try 10-10
35m | Lancaster con 10-12
47m | Robson try 10-17
48m | Lancaster con 10-19
64m | Heward try 15-19
65m | Phipps con 17-19
69m | Phipps pen 20-19

Warriors | 15 Noah Heward, 14 Charlie Gamble, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Paul Wells, 11 Rob Lester, 10 Louis Jackson, 9 Jake Leonard; 1 Lewis Holsey, 2 Jamie White, 3 Max Baggs, 4 George Packer, 5 Aaron Lawes, 6 Oli Thorneywork, 7 Will Higgins, 8 Tom Fawcett

Replacements | 16 Josh Olver, 17 Lewis Ballinger, 18 Will Sutton, 19 Morgan Monks, 20 Ben Turner, 21 Tom Williams, 22 Josh Phipps, 23 Jed Corbett