By Katy Homewood
Warriors fought hard before suffering their second defeat in the Premiership Rugby Under-18s Academy league at Oxford Harlequins RFC on Saturday.
The game was an improvement from Warriors’ last performance and this week they faced a more evenly matched side.
The impressive first half from Warriors was over shadowed by Wasps’ late push to snatch the game away from the Warriors.
Warriors scored three early tries in the first half through centres Sebastien Atkinson and Paul Wells and wing Tom O’Hanlon and the team’s massive performance in defence paid off to keep Wasps from scoring any tries until late in the first half.
Both sides struggled at times from the boot during a blustery day in Oxfordshire and the weather conditions helped Warriors to keep their lead until the final ten minutes of the game.
Warriors were quick to find gaps in the Wasps defence and took their opportunities when they could, especially when Paul Wells intercepted the ball to get his second try of the afternoon.
Warriors Academy Manager Chim Gale praised his sides efforts in a very evenly contested game.
“Tough one to swallow but someone always has to walk away more disappointed than others, it was a good game and I thought that both sides turned up and played with some good attack,” he said.
“We need to do more of the same, the energy and the efforts and the will to get involved is there and we won’t be changing too much”
The second half shifted in momentum with Wasps holding onto more possession and finding gaps in Warriors defence scoring five tries
Warriors showed great resilience in defence throughout with the pack putting in a big performance to hold Wasps at their gain line, resulting in turnovers and forcing Wasps mistakes.
Despite the Warriors best efforts in defence, Wasps were quick thinking and managed to score two quick tries in the final five minutes of the match.
Warriors Under-18s |15 James Mann, 14 Lewis Maddox, 13 Paul Wells, 12 Sebastien Atkinson, 11 Tom O’Hanlon, 10 Finn Smith, 9 Harry Mitcham, 1 Monty Royston, 2 Jon Liley, 3 Lewis Ballinger, 4 Ben Turner, 5 Morgan French, 6 Jack Forsythe, 7 Will Higgins, 8 Morgan Monks.
Replacements | 16 Aaron Layton, 17 Joe Richardson, 18 Jamie Constantine, 19 Tom Black, 20 Jack Goodwin, 21 Ollie Witcombe, 22 Peter Olley, 23 Rufus Herbert
Timeline
3m | Atkinson try 0-5
4m | Atkinson con 0-7
5m | Wasps pen 3-7
16m | Wells try 3-12
17m | Atkinson con 3-14
22m | O’Hanlon try 3-19
25m | Wasps try 8-19
32m | Wasps try 13-19
36m | Wasps try 18-19
49m | Wells try 18-24
50m | Atkinson con 18-26
52m | Wasps try 23-26
53m | Wasps con 25-26
57m | Wasps try 30-26
64m | O’Hanlon try 30-31
67m | Wasps try 35-31
69m | Wasps try 40-31
70m | Wasps con 42-31