England U18s relish Defender PREM Next Gen win

Four England U18s returned to play for Exeter Chiefs Academy as they claimed victory over Leicester Tigers U18s in the Defender PREM Next Gen competition.

Exmouth RFC and Exeter College Jeremy Keys lined up for the Academy just days after returning from England’s tour to South Africa.

He said: “I think, in the main, South Africa was brilliant. Great group of lads, great energy, always pushing each other. I think just bringing that into this kind of environment with new lads coming up, we need to all learn from each other, and all be able to kind of gain information and give it out.”

Keys was joined by three other Exeter College players on the tour: Ivybridge RFC’s winger Archie Guyver plus Jack and Will McIntosh, who played their junior rugby for Kingsbridge RFC.

All four contributed to the 31-26 win at the Centre for Rugby at Exwick at the end of last week.

Wing Will McIntosh said: “I absolutely loved it. It was good to be back out with the boys and especially to come back for a win; it just felt unreal.”

The Academy’s win came care of a replacement’s try.

Centre Jack McIntosh said: “My highlight was Harrison, Harrison Riley's finish in the corner to put us back on the right side of the scoreboard.”

Exeter Chiefs Academy’s assistant manager Marc Dibble was pleased with the squad’s progress and the contribution of the England U18s players and Max Nikitakos from Italy U18s.

He said: “We started back on the 1 July and over time, we've put things in place to bring them together. It's a new group, so we spent time down at the beach working hard. We've been into the Marines camp working hard and that's pulled them together and it's days like today that will bring them together more than anything. When you win at the death like that, that can be a real momentum builder.

“We spoke a lot in the week about fighting for each other and we showed that from the get-go. If you don't work hard in the first minute, it doesn't give you an opportunity to win the game in the last minute.”

In regard to the returners from the U18s International Series, he added: “Those guys coming back into the squad, you can just see the buzz they gave the lads throughout the week in camp and then leading into the game today. Their actions on ball, but more importantly their actions off the ball, were just superb.”