Bristol Ladies vs Saracens Women

Review

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Bristol Report

Bristol Ladies remain unbeaten at the half way point of the season, after a hard fought victory over Saracens Women today at Cleve RFC.

The first half saw both sides score a try a piece. Saracens scored after Bristol failed to clear a wayward penalty attempt, which former Bristol Ladies player Bryony Cleall dotted down to the dismay of the Bristol crowd.

The remaining play of the half was scrappy, with neither team settling or controlling play, and Chantelle Miell equalled the score as she darted over in the corner. The score at half time was 5 – 5.

Bristol broke the deadlock in the second half around 60 minutes, when a strong driving maul saw Captain Amelia Buckland Hurry score her first ever Premiership try.

Jasmine Joyce showed her pace and skill on the wing, outrunning the Saracens defence on two occasions – adding to her try tally this season, and the site of Sarah Bern running from the half way line is becoming a formidable site for any opposition, as she once again scored a brilliant try showcasing her strength and speed.

Saracens looked well coached, and came with a clear and expansive game plan, however Bristol’s passion and commitment prevailed as the home side came away with a bonus point win – retaining their place at the top of the table.

Captain Amelia Buckland Hurry spoke to us afterwards: “I’m really happy with the way we played today and our accuracy at our set piece was fantastic. It was always amazing to score my first premiership try. We have a really happy camp, and it’s exciting to have now beaten every team in the league – however we’re not complacent. We’ll go into the second leg confident, but knowing that we need to work on our discipline, but also that we need to keep improving and keep the focus on ourselves’.

Forward of the game: Clara Nielson ‘It was great today and really showcases us as a squad. Having a functioning 2^nd XV has really helped, and allowing us to bring up players and develop players is great. We had a tough 1^st half today, but we really stuck together and kept going. Once we player to our patterns and got the backs involved the game opened up and we were able to play like Bristol’

Back of the game: Jasmine Joyce

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Saracens Preview

Saracens Women have named their squad to face Bristol Ladies at Cleeve RFC in round seven of the Women’s Premiership, Sunday kick-off 14h30.

Sarries head down to the Westcountry to face league leaders Bristol Ladies for the final match of the first round of the Women’s Premiership and will be looking to bounce back from last week’s disappointing performance at Allianz Park.

April Brown and Emily Scott continue their partnership in the halves but Rob Cain has been forced into multiple changes in the backline. Seraphine Okemba lines up at inside centre for the first time this campaign with Zoe Harrison moving to outside centre. Chrissy Sicwoza stays on the wing and is joined by Nina Vistisen and Georgia Peedle as fullback.

Sarries skipper Sonia Green moves to blindside flanker as is replaced by Bryony Cleall who gets her first start in the number eight jersey. Lauren Newman is named at openside flanker.

In the front row, Kerrie-Ann Craddock lines up at loosehead prop with Vicky Fleetwood named at hooker and Geri Thomas packing down at tighthead. Ellie Gattlin and Marcella Collins continue in the second row.

Speaking ahead of the match, Rob Cain said: “Bristol away finishes the first round of games and it’s important to us as a group that we finish this on a high. This first round has been a challenge for us in terms of creating pressure for ourselves without the help of the opposition as was the case last week. The break will allow us to regroup, refocus and come out energised for the second round of games after having time to reflect and learn in detail what we can do to influence games more.

“Most people would see Bristol as heavy favourites going into the game and with our form rightly so, they are flying high and playing some really good rugby consistently each week. We have a few challenges this week as we have had all season in terms of injuries hence why we have had to re shuffle the team again but its a great opportunity for the players to go down to Bristol and really show us what they can do with their performance.  If the players can demonstrate all the hard work that goes into training and start to show what they are capable off for a full game, rather than in patches, then I know we can be there or there abouts come the final whistle.”

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