Saracens Women v Worcester Ladies

Review

Saracens were pushed hard in a tough encounter with Worcester but showed their class to pull away in the closing quarter.

The home side were slow to come out of the blocks and were unsettled early on with Worcester stretching out wide with some silky handling, allowing centre Zoe Bennion to score in the corner.

Saracens began to find their rhythm, applying pressure in the opponents 22 and were awarded a penalty which winger Charlotte Barras slotted.

Worcester found themselves a player down and after persistent infringements at the breakdown Courtney Gill was sent to the sin bin. Saracens took advantage of the extra player and began to stretch the visitor’s defence. Following a solid lineout, flanker Hannah Gallagher made a barnstorming break but was brought down just short of the line. Saracens recycled quickly and sent the ball neatly through the hands for Barras to dot down. With momentum building for the home side, the ball was turned over in the midfield allowing centre Nina Vistisen to break through, passing out to winger Laura Dowsett who then linked with her teammate with a spectacular backdoor pass to see Vistisen clear and under the posts, giving them a 13-5 lead going into half time.

Prop Laura Keates got one back for Worcester but Fi Sim was on the end of a powerful Saracens maul soon after. Worcester weren’t done though as flanker Sian Williams found the gap to slice through the Saracens midfield and score under the posts. The conversion was good taking the score to 18-17 with 20 minutes remaining.

Saracens stepped up their game with winger Lotte Clapp exploiting the blindside to score in the corner and hunting for the bonus point, Saracens continued to press through Kerrie-Ann Craddock and Jeanni Vinueza Yoyola upfront, winning a scrum against the head on the 5m. No. 8 Poppy Cleall finally scored the all-important fifth try for the bonus point.