Source: David Howlett

A Fitting Climax to the Season

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Allianz Premier 15s Round 18

There was drama everywhere you looked as five games kicked off at the same moment.

Now that crowds are so much larger at the leading clubs, a home fixture became all the more important for the prospective finalists. For once there was only one away win, and that was against the luckless DMP Sharks. It would be fascinating to know just what a difference home support makes to a team. But it’s well nigh impossible to measure it scientifically.

The runaway leaders Saracens found themselves on the losing end at home to Wasps until the very end. A half-time leeway of 7-26 melted into another great finish as Holly Aitchison created space for Alev Kelter to go over and snatch victory.

Chiefs and Bears fought out a huge battle, but once again it was the home team that had the last word. Will this narrow win give them the psychological edge when it comes to a rematch next week? They certainly seemed to finish stronger up front, and that was despite a late red card for Laura Delgado after yet another upright tackle on an opponent, here Grace Crompton.

But Bears had suffered two consecutive yellows to set them back in their quest for an elusive away win.

Loughborough can feel justly proud of their win over mighty Quins at Franklin’s Gardens. We had the rare sight of the visitor’s pack being driven rearwards on several occasions. That set the backs up for some imaginative play, led by Helena Rowland, who once more showed an astonishing range of skills; her footwork, her acceleration and her vision are matched by the power and accuracy of her kicking game.

We get a clear idea of the chasms separating the ten teams in the result from Sixways: Warriors, lying eighth, put 51 points on ninth-placed Sale Sharks. But then, Sharks gained a try-bonus point with their own 26 points.

It was Gloucester-Hartpury’s happy fate to travel north for the last game of the season to face DMP. The 67 points they extracted from their unfortunate opponents leave them one place above their university rivals, Lightning.

Results:

DMPDS 0 Gloucester-Hartpury 67
Exeter Chiefs 22 Bristol Bears 17
Loughborough 29 Harlequins 26
Saracens 31 Wasps 26
Worcester Warriors 51 Sale Sharks 26

The upshot is these two semi-finals:

Saracens v Quins
Exeter Chiefs v Bristol

to be played on Sunday 22 May

The only drawback of the set-up is that we have an exact repeat at Sandy Park of this weekend’s drama, but Chieftains won’t be complaining. Both they and their opponents will appear in their very first semis.

This is how the how the table finished:

Table ​​​                      P​     W​      L​       D    Pts

Saracens​​              18       16      2    0    77
Exeter​​​                   18      13     4     1     66
Bristol​​​                   18      ​11      6      1    62
Harlequins  ​​         18      12      6     0  ​  61
Wasps                    18       9     8      1 ​   52
Gloucester-H    ​​​    18       9      8     1    51
Loughborough      18       9      ​7     2    51
Worcester​​              18       6     12     0   35
Sale                   ​​      18       2     16     0    14
DMPDS​​                  18       ​0​     18    0      0

Officials:

DMP Durham Sharks v Gloucester-Hartpury
Referee: Dave Charlton
ARs: Gregg Dawson and Simon Park

Exeter Chiefs v Bristol Bears
Referee: Adam Wookey
ARs: Simon Adams and Kevin Williams

Loughborough Lightning v Harlequins
 Referee: Nikki O’Donnell
ARs: Phil Watters and James Pidding

Saracens v Wasps
Referee: Mike Lamb
ARs: Mike Woods and Tracy Pettingale

Worcester Warriors v Sale Sharks
Referee: Mike Hudson
ARs: Shane Lewis and Andy Green
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net

Afterthoughts

In the 2020-1 season every team was beaten more than once, and only DMP Durham Sharks were limited to a single victory.

This year the stats were similar; only DMPDS failed to secure a win.

It’s tough at the top: the four semi-finalists lost a total of eighteen times!

Lark Davies completed a remarkable double; last year she finished with an unlikely 21 tries. This year it was eighteen, and she led the field again.