15 Jul 2022

Under-18s travel east this weekend for Hull FC clash

Two top of the table sides clash this weekend as Leeds Rhinos Under-18s meet Hull FC Under-18s at the University of Hull on Saturday afternoon, kick off 1pm.

The Rhinos were well beaten 42-24 by second place St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium in their most recent match. The defeat was only Leeds’ second of the season, pushing Chev Walker’s side down to fourth place in the table with a handful of games against London, Newcastle and Warrington remaining in the regular season.

Walker’s side face a daunting task in the shape of Hull FC as the Airlie Birds aim to maintain their four point gap at the top of the Academy Championship table. Michael Shenton’s side have blown away all opponents that they’ve been drawn against in 2022, notably taking out London 60-12 in the first game of the year. Newcastle, Warrington, Huddersfield, Castleford, Bradford, Wakefield and derby rivals Hull KR have all fallen since as the black and whites accumulated over 370 points (the most by an Under-18s side this year) and only conceded 126 (the lowest by an U18s outfit in 2022).

In their latest clash versus Wigan, a tight first half saw Hull lead by two at the break, but despite a tough start to the second half, three tries in the closing moments of the game earned them a memorable win.

With four games remaining before the post season, it is a tough run in as Hull have to play fellow Play Off hopefuls Leeds, St Helens and Warrington before closing the regular season out with another clash against Hull KR.

A number of players that could feature in Saturday’s game earned call ups to the Academy Origin squads earlier this week for the third and final match at Wakefield. Leeds have six players selected, five for Yorkshire (Alfie Edgell, Bailey Aldridge, Riley Lumb, Max Simpson and Jake Higgins) and Jack Sinfield for Lancashire, while Hull have eight inclusions in the white rose’s squad (Kai Armstrong, Denive Balmforth, Matt Laidlaw, Lewis Martin, Sullivan Medford, Charlie Severs, Nick Staveley and Manoa Wacokecoke).

Team News

Chev Walker has named his 18-man squad for Saturday’s clash with Hull FC.

The team have had just under a month to prepare for the game, after losing their previous game against St Helens 42-24 in June. Walker has made changes to that squad by introducing three players back into the fray. Hooker Bailey Aldridge and prop Ethan Spear have both missed the last four Under-18s games through injury but they return to the team for Saturday.

Kai Morgan, who was ever present up until missing the St Helens match, is back as well along with Shane Tuohey, who makes his third appearance of the year.

Max Simpson and Jack Sinfield drop out of the team as they are included in Rohan Smith’s first team 21-player squad for Saturday’s game against Toulouse Olympique, along with Dylan Proud, who misses his first Under-18s game of the year.

Ever present quintet Jack Johnson, Jake Higgins, Harrison Gilmore, Neil Tchamambe and Jack Smith remain as the only players to have featured in every game in 2022, plus Yorkshire representative duo Alfie Edgell and Riley Lumb will be able to get valuable minutes ahead of joining up with the white rose’s Academy Origin squad for next weeks third and final game.

The team in full is:

Bailey Aldridge

Billy Davies

Alfie Edgell sponsored by The Leeds Welding Company

Kyden Frater sponosred by Atlas Crew

Will Gatus sponsored by Queen Elizabeth Grammar School

Harrison Gilmore sponsored by Morley Ventilation Ltd

Jake Higgins

Jack Johnson sponsored by Macronstore Wakefield

Ben Littlewood

Riley Lumb sponsored by Euro Auctions

Blake Morgan