Allianz Premier 15s – Round Seven
Alex Austerberry was pretty upset when he was not allowed to bring his Red Roses back into the fray when he wanted to. Today they were on show, but they still lost.
Exeter Chiefs v Saracens
With a much stronger outfit than the one trounced at home by Gloucester-Hartpury, Sarries were still comprehensively outplayed. Once more they were without Zoe Harrison, but Holly Aitchison is no mean stand-in. Even so, the World XV, as I prefer to call the Exeter Chiefs, put the game to bed in the first half hour with five tries.
Sarries had struggled up to fifth position in the table (never before has such a tale been told), but a side containing eight past and present Red Roses was taken to the cleaners, fore and aft. The pack couldn’t contain a rampaging home eight, and even a half-back pairing of Infante and Aitchison was forced into error. Leanne Infante sent out a number of inaccurate passes; Aitchison had yet another clearance kick charged down.
The tiniest error by Sarries – and they were worryingly numerous – tended to result in a score for the Chiefs. They were ruthless in their harrying, the ball was offloaded and spun around with alacrity. As in the second game below, they played with huge confidence, winning the impacts time after time. Liz McGoverne will have pleased all the Kiwis watching in. Her kicks constantly found grass, giving the Sarries back-three of McKenna, Breach and Clapp (how many test caps, how many tries?) a torrid time. Sad to report, but the performance of those two Red Roses showed why they were so often overlooked in Aotearoa last November.
The final margin 37-19 isn’t a chasm, but makes you wonder how Austerberry will get his players back to their best form. They now face UWW at home, then Bristol Bears away.
Sandy Park remains a lost land for them; they still await a first victory there. They languish in sixth place, one below next week’s opponents.
Teams
Chiefs: Doidge, Cramer, Zackary, Cantorna, McGoverne, F. Robinson, Rogers, Moloney, Menin,
Fryday, Leitch, Jefferies, Allen, Johnson
Saracens: McKenna, Breach, Gregson, Casey, Clapp, Aitchison, Infante, P. Cleall, M. Packer, Moore, McMillan, McIntosh, Ellis, Campbell, Clifford
Player of the Match: Liz McGoverne
Gloucester-Hartpury v Loughborough Lightning
Once more G-H looked like an England team disguised in stripes. It was hard to believe they played the first half into the wind; the game was a quarter over before Lightning had possession in the opponents’ half. By that time G-H already had two tries to their name, the first inevitably to Ellie Rugman, the second to Emma Sing, both the result of magical inter-passing, close support and quick repossessions.
Analysts with time on their hands might like to count up the number of times Rugman has been nailed to the floor on first contact this season. The fingers of one hand might prove too many.
Yet Sean Lynn had to rearrange his side: no Sarah Beckett at 8, so Aldcroft filled in (She may have enjoyed that!); Sisilia Tuipolatu had to shift to the second row, allowing Laura Delgado a start at tight-head. None of these switches seemed to cause the team a moment’s unease.
At least Lightning managed to get back on track with their first offering. They benefited from another accurate kick to the corner by Helen Nelson (No 10 today). For once the line-out clicked, and Bryony Field was over (10-7).
G-H weren’t having that. Another series of drives allowed Mo Hunt to spot the tiniest of gaps and dot down.
Lynn has got his troops playing with great confidence. Time and again the ball-carrier would stride beyond an attempted tackle, creating space wider out for quick hands to exploit.
Outside Hunt, Lleucu, George and Tatyana Heard kept probing for space, George with hand and foot; Heard with hand and deceit. George by the way will be your starting No 10 for Wales next March. No grapevine needed.
It was noticeable how inferior Lightning were in certain basics: all too often a pass would force the receiver to slow to take it; the rucks they formed were less efficient, so momentum was lost.
And yet that pack contained top names like Cath O’Donnell, Morwenna Talling, Sadia Kabeya and Sarah Hunter. Hunter’s underwhelming showing here reaffirmed my (unpopular) feelings about her retention as captain of the ultimately unsuccessful campaign in New Zealand.
No doubt they are really missing Emily Scarratt and Helena Rowland. News of two signings, Chloe Rollie and Daisy Hibbert-Jones, is further proof of Rhys Edwards’ misgivings.
Though the score at the break was only 22-12, the analysts came up with an unlikely stat: 85 tackles by Lightning; 8 by the Cherry-and-Whites. Phew!
With the second-half wind behind them, the only doubt was whether the hosts could post another half-century. They couldn’t, which is a damp feather in Loughborough’s cap. They had the misfortune to lose Lauren Bolger’s services at the break; she had shown well on the wing.
Rugman profited first from more fine inter-passing, especially by Heard. That was her second.
In the fashionable new game of ‘We’ve got more internationals on the bench than you have!‘ G-H won hands down too. They had five out of eight. As soon as Maud Muir came on, she made serious impressions on the defence.
Hunt had her second try with a quick-witted dart of at least a metre to dot down.
The final score put the icing on the cake. Two classy offloads allowied Hannah Jones to go over in the corner.
Player of the Match: Tatyana Heard
Results
Bristol Bears 48 Sale 21
DMP Sharks 5 University of Worcester Warriors 53
Exeter Chiefs 37 Saracens 19
Gloucester-Hartpury 46 Loughborough Lightning 12
Wasps 0 Harlequins 71
Table
P W L Pts
Gloucester-H 7 7 0 34
Exeter 7 6 1 30
Harlequins 7 5 2 24
Bristol 6 4 2 20
UWW 6 3 3 16
Saracens 6 3 3 15
Sale 6 3 3 13
Lightning 7 1 6 8
Wasps 6 0 6 0
DMPS 6 0 6 0
Notes
It’s excellent news that 30,000 tickets have now been sold for the England-France match on 29 April
It was good seeing Lydia Thompson’s name returning on Warriors’ team sheet
The league is now (more or less) a third of the way through. How unpredictable could it get? Glos- Pury were very likely to show uplift; few could have imagined them ‘doing a Sarries’, and reaching mid-January unbeaten. Sarries are in a degree of disarray. Wasps have very sadly fallen apart; in six games they have achieved 18 onfield points. I hope the RFU is investigating all the possible reasons for this sudden demise.
