Loan Watch and Academy Roundup: MLR, Six Nations and U16 team announcement

Loan time

Prop Luke Green played his role in San Diego Legion’s seventh-straight victory in Major League Rugby with a 48-24 win over Chicago Hounds at the Snapdragon Stadium.

A six-try, bonus-point rout of Chicago saw San Diego continue an unbeaten home run, with Green entrusted at tighthead for the second week running after starting in their 23-20 win away to Seattle Seawolves.

It was an Irish concentrated affair, with Green lining up for former Exile and Legion Scrum Coach Alex Corbisiero, as well as taking on current Hounds centre pairing Bryce Campbell and Billy Meakes.

21-year-old Green contributed 17 tackles, the third-highest haul in a Legion game for back-to-back gameweeks with teammate Tomi Morani’s brace aiding in the win in California.

Legion cemented their positioning at the helm of the Western Conference in MLR with one loss in eight outings, now travelling to fifth-placed Dallas Jackals this Saturday.

Ed Scragg continued his loan spell Down Under with Sydney University in their 2023 Shute Shield campaign when the college side took on Hunter Wildfires at The Birthplace.

Scragg, starting at lock, bagged his first try as one of five try-scorers on the day as the reigning Shute Shield victors beat the Wildfires in a narrow 29-26 home win.

Sydney sits seventh in the First Grade competition, their second W of the campaign in a bid to retain their regional crown in the New South Wales capital.

Under-18 internationals

Two of Irish’s Premiership Rugby Under-18 Academy League winners, Kepu Tuipulotu (hooker) and Charlie Griffin (wing), were named in Jonathan Pendlebury’s England under-18 side against Ireland.

The closing encounter of the 2023 Under-18 Six Nations Festival for England saw them win comfortably against the hosts in Dublin, taking a 56-14 victory after a previous win over Italy.

Harrow School’s Tuipulotu scored two tries to add to an overall haul of three in his first Six Nations competition, the first of which captured the imagination of rugby fans nationwide with a trademark solo effort that garnered over 220k impressions on Twitter.

Teammate Charlie Griffin also dotted down on Sunday afternoon to conclude Sunday afternoon’s outing, collecting a cross-field kick to score his side’s ninth and final try to end their tournament on a high.

Under-16 team announcement for Saracens clash

The London Irish Academy has named the under-16 side to face Saracens this Saturday (22^nd) at Harpenden RFC.

The Academy development fixture for the under-16 age-grade follows on from their unbeaten success at the RFU Festival of four wins from four, who will hope to replicate the form of their under-17 contemporaries against their London rivals.

Irish’s under-17s beat Saracens 52-17 at the Hazelwood Centre last Tuesday (11^th), with the under-16s encounter taking place at midday this forthcoming weekend on Redbourne Lane.

London Irish under-16s to play Saracens

15 Jensen Kelsey, 14 Dominic Monger, 13 Will Corbett, 12 Cameron Ward (cc), 11 Quinn Dunstall, 10 Finn Keylock, 9 Aiden Pugh; 1 Leroy Hove, 2 Oscar Thomas, 3 Alfie Holland, 4 Will May, 5 Rory McKnight (cc), 6 Rico Lam, 7 Elliot Giles, 8 Darren Bold.

Replacements

16 Liam Curran, 17 Jacob Fallon, 18 James Talamai, 19 Spencer Codling, 20 Charlie Wheeler, 21 Lucas Norton, 22 Patrick Keaveney, 23 Lockie Lee, 24 Inigo Langford.