Butler upbeat despite U18s’ narrow loss

Saturday 08 January 2022 Written by: Adam


Tries from Ben Redshaw, Natty Greenwood, Tom Burton and Isaac Keller, plus two conversions from Harry Williams, got the Falcons to within reach of their visitors.

And despite the result, Butler credited his team for the manner in which they came back into the game.

“We scored some outstanding tries, although ‘frustration’ would be the overall feeling at not winning,” he said.

“We played a lot more like how we wanted to play compared to our opening game away at Wasps. We probably just started a bit slow, and gave ourselves too much to do.

“Even then it was four tries all, and we basically lost by one penalty against a good side.”

Insisting the players will have relished the bigger occasion, Butler added: “The boys are disappointed, but there are a lot of positives for them to take into next week at Sale.

“Leicester were two or three scores up early doors, but we played more of a Falcons style and we can definitely build on this.

“It was great to play at Kingston Park on a Premiership match day, and a lot of fans stayed behind to watch our game.

“That will have been a great experience for the boys, and hopefully the supporters enjoyed what they saw.

“That’s part of what we’re doing in this Under-18s league, trying to prepare lads for that first-team environment, and days like today will be great for that because there’s that extra bit of pressure on them.”

Travelling to Heywood Road to take on the Sharks in a 2pm kick-off on Sunday January 16, Butler said: “It will be tough over at Sale.

“We’ve had a watch of their previous game away to Leicester, and they played really well. They play a similar game to us in terms of keeping a high tempo and moving the ball, and it should be a cracking game.”