Bristol Ladies secure a place in the Premiership Play Off Final at Sixways Stadium on Sunday 23rd April.
A well earned seven try victory over Saracens Women in the sunshine at Cleve RFC put Bristol into the final for the first time in the club’s history.
Poppy Cleall (sponsored by the School of Dance) set the home side up well as she stormed over the try line within 3 minutes of the whistle. Bristol continued to build on this platform, with long spells of possession and dominating territory. Hooker Clara Nielson got the next score of the game, after Sarah Bern (sponsored by Fifth Consultancy) made a line break and worked brilliantly with Phoebe Murray who put Nielson in under the posts. Seven minutes later Irish international Claire Molloy scored as Sydney Gregson ran an beautiful line through the middle of the Saracens’ defense. Amber Reed (sponsored by Colston’s School) slotted two conversions, taking the halftime score to 19 – 0.
The second half started in a similar vein to the first, with Molloy scoring from a driving maul two minutes in. Kayleigh Armstrong (sponsored by Maidenhead Aquatics) scored her first try in Bristol colours this afternoon, as she showed her strength to power over the line. Cleall got her second of the afternoon on 60 minutes, with Chantelle Miell taking the try total to seven for Bristol. Saracens showed good heart and resilience to get two tries of their own before the end of the afternoon. Reed added two more conversions and the final score ended 43 – 10 to Bristol.
Head coach Roy Davies commented: “I’m really pleased with our whole squad performance today. We got complete buy in from the players and this showed in an excellent performance. What was really encouraging was that there were points in the game where we were under pressure and had to work our way through, and the team did this exceptionally well. We had a strong bench and each player who came on had impact and played an important part in the victory.”
The final will take place at 3pm on Sunday the 23rd April at Sixways Stadium, keep an eye on our Facebook page for ticketing and logistics information.
In the final Bristol Ladies will face Aylesford Bull Ladies after their 22-15 win over Lichfield . Lichfield Ladies and Saracens will play off for third place.
Bristol Ladies team:
- Jessie Hood
- Clara Nielson
- Sarah Bern
- Amelia Buckland Burry
- Kayleigh Armstrong
- Izzy Noel Smith
- Claire Molloy
- Poppy Cleall
- Sian Moore
- Amber Reed (c)
- Jasmin Joyce
- Phoebe Murray
- Lottie Holland
- Sydney Gregson
- Elinor Snowsill
- Abbie Parsons
- Carys Phillips
- Sasha Acheson
- Poppy Leitch
- Brooke Bradley
- Chantelle Miell
- Cat McNaney
Report courtesy of Bristol Ladies
