Weekend Rugby
Three games here, at Twickenham, Dublin and Llanelli.
The Big Game: Quins v Leicester Tigers (Twickenham)
The biggest spectacle of the PWR season. Will the final be able to outshine it?
Quins (6/6 wins) started with a big setback. Tigers won a vital ball, and that left Meg Jones with the problem of crossing the line. A jink or two, and she converted as well. 0-7
Piqued by this blow to their pride, Quins reacted with a fine try. The pack drove and Claudia Pena was over. (5-7)
A missed kick to touch allowed Francesca McGhie to make a dangerous break, halted by Pena. But an old weakness, an inaccurate throw-in, stopped another Tigers’ attack.
Quins took the lead with a conventional hooker try (Connie Powell) from an expert drive. 10-7
Ellie Kildunne took advantage of a kick that didn’t make touch; she countered, and Jones needed skill and a touch of luck to halt her progress.
Slowly Quins created moves that showed their superiority. Powell had a deserved second after offering testing angles of running in the build-up. 17-7
Then a blow for Tigers: a yellow for Jones. Quins profited at once, Lisa Neumann crossing in the corner for the bonus-point. (22-7) Pena couldn’t quite hold on to a Kildunne pass for a further quick score.
Pena, who was having an outstanding game, chased a kick-through for her second try.
Half-time: 27-7
This one-sided score was always likely, not the best setting for such an important selling-point for the PWR. The yellow had cost Tigers dear.
They had plenty of ball at the restart, but Quins kept them waiting. Julia Omokhuale was putting in an outstanding performance, another indication of growing Canadian strength. To spoil the effect, she suffered the second yellow of the game; the price paid was a lengthening margin.
But first, Tigers were threatening right under the posts. A wide move broke down, but they had a scrum in front. A backs move worked perfectly, Emily Henrich touching down on the far right. 27-12
One of the recurring problems for the sides near the bottom of the table is the leakiness of their defence. Almost at once Carys Phillips, recently on, extended the lead to twenty. 32-12.
It took Quins quite a while to provide the next hammer-blow, but it was created by the skill of the backs, Kildunne, Lisa Neumann and Pena with her hat-trick. (37-12) As Tigers tired Kildunne turned on the magic, adding her second. 42-12
To Tigers’ great credit they returned to the attack. Jones and McGhie created the position, and Keia Sagapolu Sanele was over. 42-17. Could they possibly get that rare bonus point? No, despite the game running into the 85th minute, they remained with those bare six points.
Result: Quins 42 Leicester Tigers 17
Player of the Match: Connie Powell
Referee: Holly Wood (RFU)
Teams
Harlequins
1 TURANI 2 C. POWELL 3 HANLON 4 BONAR 5 LEANEY 6 FLEMING 7 CALLENDER 8 KONKEL (captain) 9 L. PACKER 10 H. POWELL 11 NEUMANN 12 TUIMA 13 PENA 14 WILCOCK 15 KILDUNNE
16 PHILLIPS 17 SPURRIER 18 DELGADO 19 BROOKS 20 MILLAR-MILLS 21 SWORDS 22 PARRY 23 TORLEY
Leicester Tigers
1 BARTLETT 2 COKAYNE 3 BENAVENT 4 DONALDSON 5 FRAY 6 OMOKHUALE 7 CHILDS 8 McBRIEN (captain) 9 RELF 10 N. JONES 11 McGHIE 12 WILLS 13 M. JONES 14 HENRICH 15 GALLAGHER
16 SIMPSON 17 CONSTABLE 18 VINCENT 19 RICHARDSON 20 GORDON 21 MAXWELL 22 FEURY 23 SAGAPOLU SANELE
Afterthoughts
This was a cunning move by Quins. They let the three clubs ahead of them in the table have a merry Christmas, only to soar into top position three days later.
Connie Powell put in a serious bid for the England No 2 shirt, but she has rivals! Kayleigh Powell too gave the non-existent Wales head coach a hint about her right to the 10 shirt.
We had a clear indication of the weakness of the double-header: the commentator several times mentioning the growing number of spectators. Why were they not in place from the start?
We had to put up with the hollering of Quins’ favourite PA man. On a previous occasion he screamed ‘COYQ!‘ even when his team was 60 points ahead. No question of Respect; not a happy memory.
Table P W Pts
Quins 10 8 40
Exeter Chiefs 9 8 38
Glos-Pury 10 7 38
Saracens 10 7 37
Bristol Bears 9 6 31
Trailfinders 9 3 18
Lightning 10 3 18
Tigers 9 1 6
Sharks 10 0 0
The Celtic Challenge offered two return derbies:
Clovers v Wolfhounds, (UC Dublin)
Brython Thunder v Gwalia Lightning, (Parc Y Scarlets)
These weren’t exactly final trials for a place in the test team; there were plenty of other candidates watching on. But for the selectors it was a golden opportunity to focus on the likeliest.
Clovers v Wolfhounds
A fine day in South Dublin and a curious rematch: just a week apart, separated by the Christmas break! Who had survived better?
Stacey Flood earned an early 50:22 as Nicole Fowley lost her footing trying to retrieve. Inside five minutes Alma Atagamen completed a driving try. How far can she advance in 2025? 0-5
In a quick counter Meabh Deely put Edel McMahon through a hole, but Clovers couldn’t exploit.
Small handling errors undid good work by both teams. The first gave Clovers a long spell inside Wolfhounds’ 22, but a second by them prevented a score from a likely looking drive.
The next big moment came much later: another thrilling break by Aoife Dalton through midfield gained a good 50 metres. As the ball spread right, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, one of several 7s stars on view, had a clear run in. 0-10
As the half wore on, Clovers had heaps of possession, and at last they got their reward. A fine catch-and-drive ended with a try to Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, plus a tricky conversion by Fowley 7-10
Two attacking penalties resulted in a vital try by Beth Buttimer for Clovers to give them a well deserved lead at the interval.
Half-time: Clovers 12 Wolfhounds 10
That late score proved inspirational for Clovers; the second half ran their way entirely. Buttimer earned her second from another successful pack drive, then Jane Neill’s try ensured the vital bonus-point.
It summed up Wolfhounds’ day when Hannah Clarke fastened on to an interception to race away for a final score.
This was excellent news for the tournament: a team losing one match had the ability to reverse the decision on their return. For Scott Bemand too it meant more competition for places in his squad. It could mean another upturn in Irish fortunes.
We come an inch closer to guessing the make-up of 6 Nations sides: Erin King as a No 8 candidate?
Result: Clovers 31 Wolfhounds 10 Teams:
Clovers
15 Meabh Deely, 14 *Alana McInerney, 13 Ellen Boylan, 12 Enya Breen (captain), 11 Hannah Clarke, 10 Nicole Fowley, 9 Emily Lane (Blackrock, 1 Siobhán McCarthy, 2 Beth Buttimer, 3 *Sadhbh McGrath, 4 Ruth Campbell, 5 Jane Neill, 6 *Edel McMahon, 7 Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, 8 Ivana Kiripati
16 Emily Gavin, 17 Grainne Burke, 18 Sophie Barrett, 19 Faith Oviawe, 20 Jemima Adams Verling, 21 Grainne Moran, 22 Caitriona Finn, 23 Chisom Ugwueru
* didn’t play in R1
Wolfhounds
15 Stacey Flood, 14 Vicky Elmes Kinlan, 13 Aoife Dalton, 12 Eve Higgins, 11 Amy Larn, 10 Dannah O’Brien, 9. Katie Whelan, 1 Niamh O’Dowd, 2 Maebh Clenaghan, 3 Linda Djougang, 4 Alma Atagamen, 5 Poppy Garvey, 6 Molly Boyne, 7 Claire Boles (captain), 8 Erin King
16 Kelly Burke, 17 Tricia Doyle, 18 Caoimhe Molloy, 19 Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair, 20 Lucinda Kinghan, 21 Erin McConnell, 22 Katie Corrigan, 23 Megan Burns
Brython Thunder v Gwalia Lightning
From the start we could see the gap in skill levels between the Welsh and the Irish. Accuracy of pass was one elementary weakness as the two sides sized each other up in Llanelli. There may have been lack of preparation time, but then we have to wonder why that should affect Cymru players more than the other four teams.
Gwennan Hopkins was nearly over the line, but Brython held her out at the cost of a penalty. Surprisingly Gwalia opted for the posts. It was straight in front, but Carys Hughes’ kick could only go in-off. 0-3
And that remained the score to half-time, an indication, I fear, of the lagging standards in Wales at the moment.
It took 67 minutes for Gwalia to build a dominant set of phases, leading to a try by Maisie Davies near the left post. That was better! 0-10
The lack of any further scores tells its own story. The conditions, though chilly, were in favour of quality rugby. There was precious little on view.
Result: Brython Thunder 0 Gwalia Lightning 10 Teams
Brython Thunder:
15 Hannah Lane, 14 Ellie Tromans, 13 Meg Webb, 12 Savannah Picton-Powell, 11 Eleanor Hing, 10 Niamh Terry, 9 Seren Singleton, 1 Katie Carr, 2 Evie Gill, 3 Lowri Williams, 4 Gwen Crabb, 5 Natalia John (captain), 6 Robyn Davies, 7 Lucy Issac, 8 Jessica Rogers
16 Poppy Hughes, 17 Chloe Thomas-Bradley, 18 Meg Lewis, 19 Danai Mugabe, 20 Anna Stowell, 21 Ffion Lewis, 22 Hanna Marshall, 23 Hannah Bluck
Gwalia Lightning:
15 Courtney Greenway, 14 Caitlin Lewis, 12 Kelsie Webster, 13 Molly Anderson-Thomas, 11 Catherine Richards, 10 Carys Hughes, 9 Sian Jones, 1 Maisie Davies, 2 Molly Reardon, 3 Danyelle Dinapoli, 4 Lily Terry, 5 Alaw Pyrs, 6 Bryonie King (captain), 7 Paige Jones, 8 Gwennan Hopkins
16 Molly Mae Crabb, 17 Cana Williams, 18 Jenni Scoble, 19. Erin Jones, 20 Katherine Baverstock, 21 Seren Lockwood, 22 Nia Fajeyisan, 23 Lowri Davies.
