'They really stood up' - Saints Under-18s weather the storm to win at Sale

The black, green and gold youngsters secured an excellent 41-19 victory against the Sharks at the home of Lymm RFC.

Both teams battled testing conditions as Storm Boele blew through during the match.

But it was Saints who handled the weather better as they bagged seven tries to claim an impressive away win.

And Under-18s defence coach Rylands said: “The lads did really well in testing conditions.

"As coaches, we challenged the boys on their energy and work rate, and I feel like they did that really well.

“It wasn’t an easy game after such a long time away and not much preparation time, but they really stood up and performed well.”

Sale had dominated the early stages of the match, with Saints Under-18s wing Jeremiah German sent to the bin in the early minutes for a deliberate knock-on.

However, despite their possession, the hosts struggled to capitalise on their man advantage, with the conditions hindering any attacking flow.

After German returned to the field, he made amends for his early yellow card as he made the most of a break from Ollie Jones to score.

Almost straight from the kick-off, Saints launched once again. This time it was an excellent solo effort from wing Charlie King as he sliced his way through for the score.

Sale eventually got on the board after a kick to the corner allowed them to crash over through the rolling maul.

But Saints remained patient with the ball in hand and came away from their first sustained attacking pressure inside the Sale 22 with another try as loosehead prop Toby Seaman crashed over.

The black, green and gold young guns entered the break with one more score on the board after a chip in behind from Fin Shields was gathered by Henry Bailey, who was tap tackled but managed to get the offload away to King, who walked it in.

As the wind picked up following the half-time break, Sale were struggling to exit their own 22, with Saints exerting pressure.

Eventually, a charge-down gave the away side possession, and skipper Seb Dare crashed over from close range.

The hosts hit back after the Saints' ill-discipline gave Sale easy entry into the 22, the hosts going through the phases inside the red zone until the ball was shipped out wide for the score.

Saints’ next try came from some brilliant quick thinking from replacement scrum-half Dominic Ateba, who took a quick tap from the middle of the park from a free-kick and stepped his way past multiple defenders to dive in at the corner.

Saints had found their attacking flow and were ripping holes through the Sharks' defence, with Shields finishing off another try under the posts.

The hosts weren’t giving up and once again went in under the sticks after Saints’ ruck edge defence was caught unaware.

But it was to be little more than a consolation for Sale as Saints came away from their trip north with a convincing victory.

Immediately after the Under-18s fixture had finished, Saints Under-17s played a friendly fixture against Sale Sharks Under-17.

But despite tries from Archie Doe, Kiran Chimangah, Vincent Rogers, Charlie Brazier and Charlie Hearn, Saints were beaten 47-27.

Sale Under-18s: 15 Evan Oxley; 14 Gabe McGrath, 13 Tomow Barton, 12 Finn Grocock, 11 Seb Clarke; 10, Tom Gaffey, 9 Joe Foulds; 1 Ferg Hayles, 2 Jack Kelso, 3 Will James; 4 James Patterson, 5 Lorenz D’avanzo; 6 Harry Sephton, 7 Jayden Suffell (c), 8 Henry Bates.

Replacements: 16 ⁠Ben Rosenthal, 17 Fred Manning, 18 Keane Hoyes, 19⁠ ⁠Ben Probert 20 Jack Hughes, 21 Jack Bowbeer, 22 ⁠Archie Ramsay, 23 Tom Hackett.

Saints Under-18s: 15 Henry Bailey; 14 Jeremiah German, 13 Will Catley, 12 Oliver Jones, 11 Charlie King; 10 Fin Shields, 9 George Grewcock; 1 Toby Seaman, 2 Charlie Utting, 3 Ben Jones; 4 Seb Dare (c), 5 James Peasley; 6 Carter Wright, 7 Harry Nath, 8 Harrison Denee.

Replacements: 16 Basil Anstee, 17 Hal McLanaghan, 18 Rupert Kiy, 19 Archie McHarg, 21 Dominic Ateba, 22 Felix Jacobs, 23 Selorm Agroh.