Pride of place must go to DMP Durham Sharks who gained their first victory of the season – away from home, and by 17 points.
A second major upset saw Sale topple the new strike force, Exeter Chiefs, in a tight contest.
This was a firecracker of a round, offering those two shock results and fancied sides having to claw their way to victory.
DMPDS travelled down to Bristol to achieve the biggest surprise of the season. Yes, Bristol are like a bear with no honey, but the margin of defeat leaves a lot of serous questions hanging around Shaftesbury Park; such as: when do they name a new head coach?
Sale will be especially delighted to overcome this season’s other recruits who have fared infinitely better than them till now. I’d assumed the Chiefs would benefit from losing far fewer players than most to international calls, but the Sharks’ Lisa Neumann, released from Welsh duties, scored a first-half try to put them ahead. Sachiko Kato equalised after the break, and it needed a thrilling intercept try from Hollie Bowden to ensure the four points
At the other end of the table Sarries had to work hard once more to lower Lightning’s colours. Twenty-nine points would normally be enough to beat most sides, but not the champions. Canada paraded two of their stars against each other, DaLeaka Menin and Sophie de Goede. Both played quite outstandingly, to make you wonder how far the Maple Leafs could go at the World Cup. Unfortunately for them, most of their backs play in France where play in Elite 1 has been much more spasmodic. De Goede’s sprint from her own half to the line was a moment to remember. Then, after two deep breaths, she popped the conversion over.
Quins saw off Warriors with some ease after Paige Farries had raised the visitors’ hopes with an early try.
There was a mighty tussle in the west country as Wasps just managed to nudge ahead of Gloucester-Hartpury at the death. The scoring went ding-dong for most of the game, but Hannah West scored what turned out to be the final try with seven minutes left. That was enough to give Wasps the full five points.
New-look Sides
At the end of the season coaches like to introduce new faces as they look forward to the next campaign. Here the rearranged schedule made it a necessity: four 6 Nations games plus the training day for Wales and England meant many less familiar names appearing in the Prem 15s. Good. A maximum of forty players per club squad means a lot of talented players had been denied outings till now. Their performances underlined the quality of the elite league.
Harriet Millar-Mills and Detysha Harper were the only two capped Red Roses from the original squad of 38 to turn out for their clubs. Wasps and Loughborough will have been very grateful.
Saracens are now assured of a home draw in the play-off semi-finals. Quins aren’t yet in that happy position, but both they and Wasps have highly likely 5-pointers in the final round*, so Quins should get the home tie against their London rivals.
*Quins away to DMPDS; Wasps at home to Bristol on 8 May.
Results:
Bristol Bears 17 DMP Durham Sharks 34
Gloucester-Hartpury 20 Wasps 25
Harlequins 31 Worcester Warriors 7
Loughborough Lightning 29 Saracens 38
Sale Sharks 17 Exeter Chiefs 10
Table P W L D B Pts
Saracens 17 14 2 1 15 74
Harlequins 17 13 3 1 14 68
Wasps 17 13 4 0 14 66
Loughborough 17 11 6 0 10 55
Exeter 17 10 7 0 8 49
Glos-Pury 17 9 8 0 9 46
Worcester 17 5 12 0 8 28
Bristol 17 4 13 0 6 22
Sale 17 4 13 0 3 15
DMPDS 17 1 16 0 1 5
Officials:
Two important names below: Nia Parsonage becomes the third women this season to ref an AP 15s match; Holly Myers, late of Quins and Stade Toulousain, was an AR at Shaftesbury Park
Bristol Bears v DMP Durham Sharks
Referee: Nia Parsonage
ARs: Hamish Grant and Holly Myers
Gloucester-Hartpury v Wasps
Referee: Andrew Wigley
ARs: Lloyd Davies and Nathan Howarth
Harlequins v Worcester Warriors
Referee: Ben Wood
ARs: Richard Waller and Melanie Liley
Loughborough Lightning v Saracens
Referee: Harry Walbaum
ARs: Owen Taylor and James Clarke
Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs
Referee: Daniel Rowlands
ARs: James O’Brien and Andrew Ashwell
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
