After England’s men had made the All Blacks look mortal in the morning, the first tranche of the Tyrrells season finished with the top four clubs pitted against each other – Lightning v Quins in the early afternoon, then Sarries v Gloucester-Hartpury at the unsocial hour of 6.45 pm. Wrapped around them came the three other games, stretching the Tyrrells day out over nearly nine hours, much of them played in wretchedly wet conditions.
Bristol were relieved to come away with a full five points after Richmond stayed close to them for most of the match.
DMP continued their upward path with a nine-point victory over Worcester. Jo Yapp could give a guarded welcome to the Warriors’ 21 points, but some areas of their game need rapid improvement if they are to gain their first points of the season.
It was one-way traffic in the north-west as Wasps enjoyed a 62-point romp over hapless Waterloo. Abby Dow caught the eye again with a hat-trick of tries.
Lightning v Quins
In this livestreamed game Quins were pushed to the limit by a skilful and hard-working home unit. An early score for Lightning came when Emily Scarratt potted a penalty. Quins unwisely opted for a series of one-off drives under their posts. Sure enough, the wet ball went to ground and Georgia Bradley seized her chance to go over. When DaLeaka Menin was put through a gap to motor over, Lightning’s lead stretched away to 17-0.
The many kickers in the two sides sought to gain ground by that method. The ball was so hard to handle early on that even Leanne Riley sent out several uncontrolled passes. Later she adjusted to the conditions to provide her side with plenty of go-forward.
Quins were lucky to keep all 15 on the field when Scarratt was tackled in the air. Neither the referee, Aurélie Groizeleau, nor her AR spotted a shirt number so it was only a penalty. Ironically it was the hosts who suffered not one, but two yellows later which allowed Quins back to 17-12 at half-time.
They got their driving maul working after the restart to take the lead for the first time, but Scarratt struck another penalty. 20-19
The current favourite error in rugby is the overthrow at the line-out. Lightning now produced one to offer Quins easy points. The favour was returned when an ill-considered Quins pass in midfield was intercepted by – you’ve guessed – Emily Scarratt. Chloe Rollie chased her all the way but she was over. 27-24
The crucial final minutes of the half belonged to Quins, when bodies and minds were at their most stretched. They made sure of their bonus point with two tries from their back rowers, Giada Franco and Sarah Beckett. The scoreline gap of nine points looks wide, but that is misleading. Both sides played with intensity and Loughborough can consider themselves unfortunate not to have come away with a different result.
Saracens v Gloucester-Hartpury
A spiteful swirl of misty rain enveloped the ground, as if to punish Sarries for their very late kick-off time.
But we were in for another high-quality game involving the sides placed second and fourth in the table. Though several Scottish caps were unavailable today, Lisa Martin still graced the hosts’ line-up.
Zoe Harrison was back in the mix. Interestingly, she played at inside-centre again to allow Martin to keep her place at 10. Or maybe the England selectors prefer to see her there. That cupboard is distinctly bare at the moment. No Lagi Tuima or Amber Reed, and Rachael Burford and Tatyana Heard were declared superfluous to requirements.
In the dire conditions it’s no surprise that points were hard to come by. G-H began strongly, pinning Sarries in their red zone for a while. But an inability to turn territory into points was to be their downfall. Time and again they coughed up possession, to be punished with long raking kicks by Martin, Harrison and Sarah McKenna.
By and large the handling of the wet ball was more assured here than at Loughborough, but even so, the game spluttered along, neither side able to ensure continuity. It took Sarries half-an-hour to get their forward drive going. Hannah Botterman had the last touch. Martin converted well. 7-0
Eight minutes later Marlie Packer made her usual contribution to her team’s well-being. 14-0
G-H deserved the try they got just before half-time, Erica Mills the scorer.
Half-time: 12-7
It’s rare for Sarries to be held to so tight a margin. Indeed the score remained the same for the next 28 minutes. G-H had chances to get closer, but it was a penalty by Martin that brought the last addition to the score.
The disappointment was G-H’s inability to get their talented backs moving dangerously. Kelly Smith once more could only look on. With four internationals in the back line this was hard to explain, even with that wet ball to control.
This was Sarries’ second match-up with a top-four opponent; they beat Lightning by a last-minute strike (28-24). Two single-figure margins against the third and fourth-placed sides aren’t in line with their results of the past two years. We won’t get a true indication of their current form till they meet Quins in Round 9 in December. Quins’ margin over G-H was 27.
Results:
Bristol Bears 26 Richmond 18
DMP 32 Worcester 21
Firwood Waterloo 0 Wasps 62
Loughborough Lightning 26 Harlequins 37
Saracens 15 Gloucester-Hartpury 7
Table after 6 Rounds:
P W D L B Pts
Harlequins 6 6 0 0 6 30
Saracens 6 6 0 0 5 29
Wasps 6 4 0 2 4 20
Glos-Pury 6 4 0 2 4 20
Lightning 6 3 0 3 5 17
Bristol 6 3 0 3 4 16
DMP 6 3 0 3 3 15
Richmond 6 1 0 5 1 5
Waterloo 6 0 0 6 1 1
Worcester 6 0 0 6 0 0
Wasps move above Glos-Pury and Lightning into third place
Tailpiece
Is this the most celebrated bench ever in the Tyrrells?
Fleetwood 69 caps
Clark 137 caps
Cleall P 33 caps
= 239 caps!
Rosewatch
These are the contracted players listed to play in Round 6, just before the break for the November internationals:
Aldcroft
Beckett
Bern
Botterman
Breach
Brown
Cleall P*
Daley-Mclean
Davies
Fleetwood
Harrison*
Hunter
Macdonald
McKenna
Packer
Riley
Scarratt
Scott A
Scott E
Smith
Thompson
*New kids off the block this season
Not available:
Cleall B
Cokayne
Cornborough
Hunt
O’Donnell
Reed
Tuima
Phew! That’s a reduction of three from last week’s list of non-participants. But with only five props contracted by England and Bryony Cleall not expected back till the new year, the management may well need to look elsewhere.
