THE future looks bright for teenager Morgan Monks after earning praise for his debut display in Worcester Cavaliers’ 34-26 victory over Northampton Wanderers.

The blindside flanker who attends Worcester Sixth Form College was called up to Warriors’ second string side after impressing for the club’s under 18s.

And academy coach Gordon Ross said Monks “stepped up massively” as he carried hard and put in a strong defensive shift in Cavaliers’ Premiership Shield triumph at Sixways on Monday.

“It was his first proper game in senior rugby and he didn’t look out of place at all which is always a good sign,” Ross said.

“We want to get these under 18 guys involved as much as possible and Morgan did really well.

“He had a couple of really good carries and kept the ball alive which was good.

“That bodes well for him and the club moving forward.”

Mason played 68 minutes before being replaced but his back row colleague Matti Williams was forced off just before the interval following a blow to the head.

“Sadly Matti failed his HIA (head injury assessment),” Ross said.

“Every time Matti plays in these Monday night games he gets stuck in and drags the boys along with him.

“He might not talk much common sense but his energy is cracking and the rest of the boys buy into that which is what we want!”

Cavaliers made a fine start as Monks surged for the try-line before Jonny Arr teed up Mason Tonks to finish in the corner. Scott van Breda added the extras.

Wanderers levelled matters on seven minutes when Tom Emery put Matt Worley away for a score that was improved by James Grayson.

Van Breda converted his own try before Grayson’s kick got the visitors back on level terms after James Craig went over from close range.

Cavaliers were then hit by two yellow cards as Andrew Kitchener was sin-binned for killing the ball and Farai Mudariki was carded for collapsing the scrum.

Northampton soon made their numerical advantage count as Ken Pisi eased over.

But Cavaliers only conceded five points when they were down to 13 men for eight minutes and closed the gap to 19-17 with a penalty on the stroke of half-time by van Breda.

The hosts regained the lead three minutes into the second period when Will Butler powered forward and linked-up with Wynand Olivier who applied the finish.

The try of the match came on 55 minutes when Alex Hearle burst through a gap before offloading to van Breda who found Louis Brown to score.

Northampton came back fighting as hooker Darren Dawidiuk crashed over from a driving maul and Grayson converted to reduce the deficit to 29-26 with seven minutes left.

But Grayson was sin-binned for a high tackle and Cavaliers sealed victory when Luke Veebel went over in the closing moments.

Ross praised his players for their “really positive” mindset as the win puts Worcester in contention for a place in the semi-finals.

“I am absolutely delighted,” said Ross whose side host Wasps A next Monday (7.30pm).

“Right from the word go they had a nice positive intent.

“When Northampton came at us in the last 20 minutes we defended really well and the guys that came on added to our energy.

“I could not be any happier for these boys.

“Some of them had not played in a long time because of the way the games had fallen and others have been injured.

“But the attitude and the endeavour was outstanding.”