Round Two
The two Saturday games presented the league in its best and worst light.
In the eagerly awaited west country derby Gloucester-Hartpury reinforced views that they will be hard to beat this season. Up north Exeter Chiefs survived the longest journey the league can offer to put DMP away with minimal trouble.
Results:
DMP Sharks 0 Exeter Chiefs 95
Gloucester-Hartpury 36 Bristol Bears 5 (livestreamed game)
Glos-Pury v Bristol Bears
Despite all the missing figures this was a magnificent advertisement for the league. The effect of the wind wasn’t totally apparent till the turn-round. G-H had to work hard to reach the lemons 10-5 ahead, but with the wind they strode away from their top-four rivals with 26 unanswered points.
We were denied the pleasure of seeing Abbie Ward competing against Sam Monaghen at the line- out.
The effect was to give G-H secure possession and Monaghan a deserved Player of the Match award. She is an outstanding example of why World Rugby couldn’t claim all the best players would be on view at the RWC.
The Bears started well enough; Lucy Burgess broke nicely through midfield, and they were aided by a Mo Hunt knock-on behind her own line. But the edge they showed at the set-scrum failed to produce results. Instead, a catch-and-drive allowed Neve Jones to break the deadlock. It was a lead the hosts were not to relinquish.
They were shown up by Phoebe Murray, the centre whom the England selectors have refused to recognise since her days as captain of the national U20 team. She completed a lovely move that was the only time the Bears managed to dismantle G-H’s defences.
But the good work was undone by two bouts of backchat from Rownita Martson that cost her 20 metres of territory and a repeat performance by Jones.
Half-time 10-5
With the wind in their sails, G-H now romped away from the visitors. Their combined play worked well, cut-out passes especially effective in outflanking the defences. It must be admitted that Lleucu George made a far more positive contribution to their progress at out-half than Lizzie Goulden had achieved.
Mia Venner receiived a huge aerial pass on the left to get the ball rolling, Ellie Rugman, once better known as Underwood – congratulations to her – added two more tries to her large collection, and Emma Sing completed another, once more outflanking the wide defences.
Both sides suffered a yellow card, first Grace White for the Bears, then Sarah Beckett for the Cherry-and-Whites, but they didn’t affect the balance of play.
It’s desperately hard to measure how the game might have played out with the presence of the missing Red Roses; in this case Abbie Ward and Sarah Bern for Bears, and Alex Matthews and Zoe Aldcroft for G-H. That will have to wait for the return game.
What was plain to the spectators was the quality on show from both sides. But G-H made a statement of intent that their rivals will have noted with concern.
Officials:
Referee: Ian Tempest
ARs: Nick Marshall and Peter Brunt
Darlington Mowden Park Sharks v Exeter Chiefs
Chiefs were kind enough to spare me the heartache of reporting another 100-point victory. They had to be satisfied with 95.
This is not what the league is supposed to be about. I wonder once more how the new company in charge of the league proposes to even things up.
We can only feel great sympathy for the home team as they face another sixteen rounds which are likely to produce similar setbacks.
Officials:
Referee: Alex Thomas
ARs: Gregg Dawson and Jamie Leahy with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
Afterthoughts
Fans will have to wait another week (or probably two) till they can welcome back their Red Rose heroes. The delay may well concern emotional recovery even more than physical. Lightning did have Detysha Harper playing, but she was a late replacement in Aotearoa.
Isn’t life strange! Warriors add a university to their official title; DMP drop theirs.
No fewer than three of the ten league clubs were within a whisker of disappearing from view: the two just mentioned and Wasps.
The man who championed the idea of Gallagher Premiership clubs joining the Premier 15s league, its CEO Simon Massie-Taylor, came before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in parliament to explain why two of his clubs had been ousted because of unpaid debts running into many millions.
