Here’s a look at the five clubs not engaged in the play-offs: Harlequins, Leicester Tigers,
Loughborough Lightning, Sale Sharks and Trailfinders Women.
Some scene-setting
The new PWR was in place. In my my piece dated 27 June 2023 I wrote of the 10-year strategy the new company in charge targeted. Belinda Moore, the CEO, made the bold statement that the underlying aim was to evolve into a professional league. This was controversial as well as optimistic.
The next month I wrote: “It’s important that both the head coaches (of the two new clubs) are women. For the first time women will outnumber men in this lead position. They are: Amy Turner (Quins), Jo Yapp (Worcester), Rachel Taylor (Sale, with Katy Daley-Mclean as Performance Lead) and Susie Appleby (Exeter), alongside the two newcomers, Giselle Mather and Vicky Macqueen,”
One name stands out as a painful reminder, Jo Yapp. When the first round fixture list was published, Worcester Warriors were still in being. By the time battle commenced – it was delayed till 18 November because of WXV – they were no more than a fading dream. I won’t repeat the details of that sad saga.
In her mission statement Moore had said: “We believe that rugby’s next era will be built on the foundations of collaboration, and it is a hugely positive step to see this partnership with the RFU and the clubs to deliver what’s best for the women’s game, harness the current foundations and accelerate the growth of the league.”
Fine words, but the financing of the league and its players remains an unsolved problem. No money, no play. This sad fact was underlined when DMP Sharks, so recently ousted, announced they were withdrawing from Championship North. Not only had they insufficient funds, but now insufficient players.
Harlequins
Quins, once a pioneer and wayfinder in the Premier 15s, finished in sixth place with only four wins. An inkling of what was to follow came early. They were beaten by Sale Sharks, one of the newer clubs and destined to finish below them in the final table.
Things have gone badly wrong at the Stoop, though it’s difficult to lay a finger on the prime cause. Amy Turner left her job as England’s representative intern at the World Cup prematurely, to take over from Gerard Mullen who was removed from office with no reason given. One might be a set of disappointing results. If that is so, then Turner may be in line for the chop too.
A host of players left the Stoop for pastures new. They included the following Red Roses: Abbie Ward, Abby Dow, Amy Cokayne, Leanne Infante and Rosie Galligan. This week Rachael Burford and Shaunagh Brown have announced their retirement and others are following suit.
So there is an urgent need for rebuilding. How is that to be achieved?
Three obvious answers: this is a famous club with a distinguished history; it is rightly proud of its support structures; it lies in London, a magnet for many, not only Dick Whittington. But this year they have added only Connie Powell to their books, among current contracted Red Roses.
The final hammer-blow was conceding over 50 points to their London neighbours, newcomers Trailfinders.
Of all the nine clubs, what happens to Quins before the start of next season may prove the most dramatic.
Leicester Tigers
Once the season started, I felt my hunch about Tigers was proving correct. They simply hadn’t added sufficient strength to their playing staff to achieve success. The newly appointed head coach, Vicky Macqueen, had targeted a place in mid-table at best. That contrasted strongly with Susie Appleby’s manifesto at Exeter Chiefs, when she announced at the start that their ambition was to win the trophy.
In my opinion one error Tigers made was staying too loyal to players who had served them admirably in the Championship. Loyalty is a virtue all too rare in modern sport, but it placed too great a weight on players unused to the extra demands of elite rugby.
Tigers did acquire the services of Amy Cokayne and Meg Jones, but Cokayne was injured for a long period, and I’m not sure the best use was made of Jones’ skills by placing her in the centre. True, she has played there with distinction for England, but while she was at Wasps, Giselle Mather had used her at No 10. That served to create the best, the most productive back-line I’ve seen since the start of the Prem 15s in 2017.
Now experienced players like Becky Noon are retiring, and even more signally, Macqueen too. So a new head coach needs to be installed as soon as possible, if only to set about the tricky task of encouraging the best talent to join the club.
Beyond Welford Road comes the question of how and why the Tigers were admitted to the ranks. The obvious answer is the name of one of the most distinguished clubs in England. But that is not in itself sufficient to ensure success.
Loughborough Lightning
Lightning are like Gloucester-Hartpury in that they are based at a university; in their case, the most distinguished sports university in the country. Unlike G-H they didn’t have close links with a men’s Premiership club, a feature now seen as desirable by the PWR board.
Their response was to link up with Northampton Saints, a curious move, explained only by the knowledge that their nearest men’s Premiership club, Leicester, was already setting up its own women’s section. So the players had to win over an entirely new audience that had no prior connection with their home town, some 50 miles to the north. They all pronounce themselves happy with the move, but it still has to prove itself through results.
These days they have Cath O’Donnell, Helena Rowland, Sadia Kabeya and Scarratt, plus the experienced Laura Keates as (ex-)Red Roses on their books. They also have a number of outstanding young prospects who may yet find favour, like Lilli Ives-Campion, Daisy Hibbert- Jones and Bo Westbourne-Evans.
But the last couple of seasons have seen their standards fall away. They even had a change of head coach with Nathan Smith taking over.
They have found the top four clubs impossible to beat; even a 3-point away win over Quins now looks less encouraging than it did at the time. Still, they finished top of this group of five. Whether they can move one place higher next season is open to doubt.
Sale Sharks
Sharks lie at the very heart of all the doubts and criticisms that fly around the PWR. With the demise of Darlington Mowden Park Sharks they remained the only English club north of the Trent. And Sale lies over 200 miles south of the Scottish border.
Their addition to the Prem 15s could be welcomed as a valuable addition to clubs well away from London (for which, read Twickenham).
Katy Daley-Mclean, appointed as their first DoR, set a target of making the club a centre of excellence for the north-west. As we look at the make-up of the club today, we must admit that aim has failed. A vast number of the players come from Celtic sources or overseas.
Neither the RFU (in the days of the Prem 15s) nor the Premiership Women’s Rugby Limited (PWR) have found a way of sustaining a club that comes under serious financial pressure.
They finished the season strongly enough to avoid bottom place, but it will need a change of fortune for them to advance further up the table.
Trailfinders Women
The other newcomers, TF, presented a very different face from Tigers. Their club was not in the Gallagher Premiership, and Ealing Trailfinders were not one of the long-standing men’s rugby clubs.
But Giselle Mather had her own ways of building a squad that could hope to hold its own against allcomers. She made headlines with her first signing, Abby Dow. Once we had digested the news, we realised it made a lot of sense. Mather turned first to the club that she had led for many years, Wasps. Then she hunted all over the world for players she felt could hold their own at this level. She didn’t set precise targets as Appleby and (to a lesser extent) Macqueen had done, but worked on developing a team-spirit which became more and more evident as the season progressed.
Their final results speak for themselves: a sixth position that leaves them one place above local rivals Quins; they play a brand of rugby that is easy on the eye; the ball is thrown around with gay abandon. For future development they need to stengthen the pack which was pushed around in the last match against Quins.
Some of their most familar players are nearer the end of their careers than the start: Kate Zackary, Tyson Beukeboom and Rowena Burnfield to name but three. But, as with all the eight other clubs, one of the excitements of the close season will be to see who is added to the playing strength.
This how the bottom end of the table finished:
Pts
Loughborough L. 38
Trailfinders 29 (5 wins)
Quins 29 (4 wins)
Sale Sharks 13
Leicester Tigers 10
