Chiefs U18s side to face London Irish
By Alfie Martin
14/12/18
Exeter Chiefs Academy coach Marek Churcher is relishing the opportunity to show off the wealth of talent available to the club, as they prepare to kick-off their latest Premiership Rugby Under-18s League campaign away to London Irish.
Having fallen just short of full honours in the past, the rising stars at the club will be looking to make an impression early on in the contest and afford themselves a strong foothold for the season ahead.
Standing in their way, however, will be a more-than-useful Exiles outfit, who themselves have demonstrated their own strength in depth in recent years.
“It’s been a very successful season for the academy feeder colleges in the region, especially since the closing of the AASE League earlier in the month,” explained Churcher. “We’ve also been impressed with the talent from surrounding schools, which from a coach’s point of view is very exciting as it gives us lots of choices for selection.
“This squad has shown great potential in the weeks leading up to the game, and we’re particularly impressed with how they have come together in such a short space of time. We trained on Wednesday and all the boys put in a great shift.”
Churcher also commented on the work put in behind the scenes, giving credit to the hard work put in leading up to selection.
“I think it’s part and parcel with the work that goes on at college and school level rugby. It’s great to see players coming through to the Academy setup with experience at a good level of rugby. For us it’s really encouraging and we really look forward to the season ahead.”
CHIEFS UNDER-18s SIDE TO FACE LONDON IRISH
15 Frankie Dart
14 Ben Fenton
13 Arthur Relton
12 Isaak Welch
11 Josh Davies
10 Haydn Lidstone
9 Tom Cairns
1 Chris King
2 MacKenzie Oliver
3 Harry Wilkinson
4 Mawgan Osborne
5 Joe Greaves
6 Joe Elsworth
7 Jake Bond
8 Josh Thorne
16 Will Goffey
17 Cian Goldsmith
18 Harvey Dunn
19 Joe Stansfield
20 Scott Butterworth
21 Ethan Maltby
22 Ali Stacey
23 Alex Gozzard