Bristol lift their first Academy title at Sixways

BRISTOL Bears secured their first ever Premiership Academy title beating Northampton Saints 13-5 at Sixways in last Sunday’s final.

Saints took the lead with an unconverted try from Northampton School for Boys pupil Frankie Sleightholme.

However, unbeaten Bristol responded with 13 unanswered points from loosehead prop Louis Trevett’s try and eight points from the boot of Clifton College’s England U18 star Sam Worsley to seal the win.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam was full of praise for the academy, saying: “It’s phenomenal, a real testament to all the staff and players.

“We took the gamble with the RFU in terms of restructuring after my second year here, it wasn’t working how the academy was because we had a small catchment area which some people saw as a disadvantage, but I saw it as an advantage. The smaller you are, the better relationships you should have, the better your programme could be. So, we restructured it completely, different from every other academy and we saw the first taste of it before Covid where we made the final three.

“It’s not just winning it, we’re the only team undefeated. When I went to watch the games, I saw the culture of the group, they’ve really bought into everything how we wanted. It’s a record intake of players this season who have got into our academy.”

Elsewhere on finals day, Leicester Tigers finished in third place after a 29-19 victory over Harlequins, while Saracens claimed fifth in a high scoring affair against Sale Sharks with a 53-33 win.

Bath secured seventh beating Newcastle Falcons 38-19 and London Irish finished ninth after their 38-20 win over Worcester Warriors.

Wasps were in sensational form against Exeter Chiefs to seal 11th with a 59-20 victory, while Gloucester finished 13th courtesy of their 21-12 win against Yorkshire.