Fixtures:
Saturday 8 February:
Bears v Chiefs
Sharks v Trailfinders
These are the two matches that fell foul of some unfriendly weather.
The Big One is Exeter Chiefs against Bristol Bears.
Both clubs have produced outstanding results, coupled with unwelcome upsets. Consistency has been lacking, which makes predicting the outcome next to impossible. Certainly Sandy Park is no longer the fortress it liked to claim to be.
Dave Ward has been frank about the position Bears have got themselves into. Two losses to clubs placed a distance below them in the league is hard to explain away.
On Saturday evening the best Bears can hope for is to be ahead by three points, but Chiefs still have that one game in hand. A final confusion is that Bears won the previous contest away at Sandy Park.
This is what lies ahead of the pair:
Bears away to Quins; Chiefs away to Sarries, then home to Tigers.
More upsets are possible, but the odds are firmly on Chiefs to carry through to the semis on 1-2 March.
After their unforgettable victory over Chiefs, Sharks know they can do the job. But they have yet to beat Trailfinders and their remaining fixtures look unforgiving, versus Sarries then Gloucester-Hartpury. Both of them will be at their most rughtless, needing every point to ensure the best entry into the play-offs.
Here are the four teams. Once more the overall strength of the first two makes you wonder how they ever lose. One answer: they have to play each other.
Teams
Bears
15 Courtney Keight 14 Reneeqa Bonner 13 Phoebe Murray 12 Amber Reed 11 Ilona Maher 10 Holly Aitchiswon 9 Keira Bevan 1 Simi Pam 2 Lark Atkin-Davies 3 Sarah Bern 4 Hollie Cunningham 5 Abbie Ward (captain) 6 Christiana Balogun 7 Alisha Joyce-Butchers 8 Evie Gallagher
16 Holly Phillips 17 Hannah Botterman 18 Elliann Clarke 19 Delaney Burns 20 Gabriella Nigrelli21 Ffion Lewis 22 Meg Varley 23 Millie David
Chiefs
15 Merryn Doidge 14 Claudia Macdonald 13 Nancy McGillivray 12 Alex Tessier 11 Katie Buchanan 10 Liv McGoverne 9 Flo Robinson 1 Hope Rogers 2 Emily Tuttosi 3 Flo Long 4 Poppy Leitch (captain) 5 Linde van der Velden 6 Dorothy Wall 7 Maddie Feaunati 8 Rachel Johnson
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Sharks
15 Nikita Prothero, 14 Sophie Hopkins, 13 Beatrice Rigoni, 12 Katana Howard 11 Eva Wood 10 Vicky Irwin, 9 Olivia Ortiz, 1 Catie Brnson, 2 Molly Wright, 3 Detysha Harper, 4 Iona Antwis, 5 Erica Jarrell, 6 Jo Brown, 7 Niamh Swailes, 8 Morwenna Talling (captain)
16 Scarlett Fielding, 17 Amber Schonert, 18 Nick James,19 Molly Morrison, 20 Polly Bowman, 21 Sofia Stefan, 22 Robyn Wilkins, 23 Rachel Philipps
Trailfinders
1. Liz Crake, 2. Lindelwa Gwala, 3. Cassandra Tuffnail, 4. Grace Moore, 5. Shya Pinnock, 6. Rowena Burnfield, 7. Abi Burton, 8. Kate Zackary (captain), 9. Caity Mattinson, 10. Julia Schell, 11.Grace Wkite 12. Lisa Thomson, 13. Kendra Cousineau, 14. Vicky Laflin, 15. Niamh Gallagher,
16. Paige Stathopoulos, 17. Alivia Leatherman, 18. Rori Wood, 19.Tyson Beukeboom, 20. Sara Seye, 21. Ella Amory, 22. Jess Cooksey, 23. Rosie Inman
