Six Nations Rugby | Premier 15s roundup: Bristol and Saracens maintain unbeaten starts
As Bristol ended up at 14 from repeated blackout violations, they opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes of action at the Stoop thanks to Courtney Knight.
Quins responded through Emily Robinson and after both teams missed conversions the scores were tied at the break 5-5.
After the break, a break from Bears forward Sarah Bern saw her enter Quins 22, before handing the ball to Grace Crompton who finished with ease.
Then, for Bristol’s third try of the afternoon, Crompton became supplier, this time dismissing Wales winger Jasmine Joyce.
The Bristol flyer made his way through the Harlequins’ defense, beating Ellie Kildunne’s last effort to hit the ground.
This feeling ð—³ð—¿ð—¼ð—º ð—³ð—¶ð˜ƒð—². ??
Want more. ??#MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/RvAXAGg7D6
– Bristol Bears Women (@BristolBearsW) October 11, 2021
And Hannah West closed the proceedings for the Bears with their fourth try of the afternoon which marked a famous day for Dave Ward’s side in southwest London.
Elsewhere, the Saracens continued to match Bristol for pace with a fifth straight league win over the Chiefs of Exeter.
While Exeter took the lead thanks to Brooke Bradley, the Saracens responded thanks to Chantelle Miell before Poppy Cleall crashed to give them the lead.
A Zoe Harrison penalty coupled with a Hannah Botterman try down the right flank gave the Saracens a 22-7 lead at halftime.
And after the break, they continued their assault when Cleall won his second of the game after a great line break from Lotte Clapp.
Both Ebony Jefferies and Flo Robinson’s tries gave Exeter some hope, but Harrison’s boot kept the points on the line for Sarries, with the contest ending 32-19 in their favor.
Worcester Warriors scored an impressive 18-14 away win over one of last season’s Premier 15 semi-finalists Loughborough Lightning.
What a day ! What a victory! Which team! ??#WarriorsFamily pic.twitter.com/sDzzl2ab6t
– Women of Worcester Warriors (@WorcsWarriorsW) October 9, 2021
At the break, the scores were 0-0, with neither team being able to break the deadlock in the first 40 minutes of action.
A 44th-minute Minori Yamamoto penalty for Worcester kicked off the party, with Loughborough responding with a try by Lark Davies who came through in the back of a superbly executed rolling maul.
The Warriors then took the lead when Alycia Washington crashed into the corner before Laura Keates extended her lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Another Davies try followed by a Helena Rowland conversion made it a one-point game with four minutes left, but luckily for Worcester, Ellen Murphy’s penalty kick allowed the Warriors to give them their second win of the season.
In the bottom battle, the Sale Sharks beat DMP Durham Sharks 31-0 at Darlington Arena.
A pair of tries from Catherine Benson, scores from Lauren Delany, Leah Lyons, Lisa Neumann and the boot from Sarah Law helped Sale to her first win of the season.
Just to say triplet hero @abbydowberg illuminated the @CBSArena yesterday for @ wasp-women! pic.twitter.com/SRZ9dblyZc
– Wasps Rugby (@WaspsRugby) October 11, 2021
DMP is sitting at the bottom of the table after losing its first five matches.
In the final match of the fifth round, Wasps and Gloucester-Hartpury played an entertaining 34-25 game that saw the first win at CBS Arena.
A penalty kick from England’s recent call-up Emma Sing saw Gloucester-Hartpury take the lead six minutes before a converted Maud Muir score tipped the early stages in favor of the Wasps.
Florence Williams was on track with her 22nd minute penalty to extend the Wasps lead, but Gloucester-Hartpury hit back before the break with a try from Natasha Hunt and another penalty from Sing.
With the game in play 11-10 against Gloucester-Hartpury, the Wasps needed something to put them on top.
Luckily for them, they had Abby Dow on their side, with the England winger producing a stellar 14-minute hat trick that put the Wasps in comfortable control of the game.
Gloucester-Hartpury offered some resistance with tries by Bethan Lewis and Ellie Underwood potentially threatening the Wasps later.
But Dow’s hat trick and a score from Claudia Macdonald helped the Wasps seal an impressive victory.