London Irish U18s off to winning start in Premiership League

London Irish U18s kicked off their Premiership Rugby U18 league campaign with a 10-22 win away against Gloucester U18s at Dean Close School early today. 

The young Exiles crossed for four tries in the game with hooker Joseph Vajner opening the scoring. Winger Jesper Hartikainen crossed for a brace of tries and there was also a try for centre Will Joseph and a successful conversion from Monty Bradbury. 

It was a physical contest played in very tricky and windy conditions in the west country that gives the squad a huge boost of confidence leading into their round 2 clash next weekend. 

The Exiles driving maul proved to be very effective as did their defensive effort, particularly in the first half and the 10 minutes following the start of the second half. 

London Irish Academy Manager, Patrick O’Grady spoke after the game saying “I was please with the performance considering the tough conditions. The boys showed glimpses of what they are capable of ahead of what will be another tough match against Harlequins next week.”

Scorers: Tries: Vajner, Hartikainen (2), Joseph; Conversions: Bradbury

London Irish U18s:

15. Finley Brown, 14. Henry Arundell, 13. Will Joseph, 12. Matthew Barrett ©, 11. Jesper Hartikainen, 10. Monty Bradbury, 9. Rory Morgan, 1. Tarek Haffar, 2. Joseph Vajner, 3. Joe Keohane, 4. Josh Taylor, 5. Sam Harding, 6. Lucas Brooke, 7. George Davis, 8. Marcus Rhodes

Replacements: 16. Rupert Reddish, 17. Ethan Pawadyira, 18. Oscar Jansen, 19. Edwin Zaimovic, 20. Freddie Fearnley, 21. Dan Ormond, 22. Niall McGann, 23. Ben Fitzgerald