PWR Semi-final
6,000 people were on hand to witness an enthralling game.
Bears spent the early minutes building momentum, but couldn’t yet find penetration. Holly Aitchison sent an uncharacteristic pass straight into touch. This wasn’t to prove one of her better games, her place-kicking alone making a poor contrast with Emma Sing’s.
G-H were penalised at a scrum where they launched Bears backwards, but Mo Hunt had a box-kick charged down; Aitchison hit a long diagonal to 10 metres out.
It was all Bears; any time G-H got their hands on the ball, they lost possession then conceded penalties. On the quarter-hour Bears had their reward. A 5-metre scrum brought the opening score, inevitably to Lark Atkin-Davies. 0-5
A second scrum penalty to Bears brought a grubber over the line from Aitchison; Hunt just managed to sweep it up, but once again her side had misbehaved.
Bears’ second try differed only in the piece of real estate LA-D chose. 0-10
Then, as G-H kicked off, they lost possession again. They remained on a starvation diet till, on 26 minutes, they almost reached the halfway line, unexplored territory!
Suddenly they remembered they were the champions. It needed a drive by Alex Matthews off the back of the scrum, and they were threatening the line. El Perry blasted her way over. She was to have a major say in events; it was five years since she last wore white, and she gave onlooking England selectors a timely nudge. Astonishingly Emma Sing missed from in front. 5-10
Now at last there were two teams in the match, and G-H players who had hardly seen the ball were allowed a touch or two.
A second visit to the Bears’ 22 proved fruitful; Sarah Beckett had the pleasure of scoring the equaliser. Sing succeeded with a far more demanding conversion. 12-10
As the half drew to a close, G-H failed to make use of an attacking line-out, but Evie Gallagher was guilty of a high tackle and shown yellow. A delay for an injury to Sarah Bern gave G-H the chance to dream up a clever line-out. The drive was stopped, but the ball swept wide to Sing who strode over, adding another conversion to her majestic stats for the season.
Half-time 19-10
What a turnaround! Nineteen points in a row.
But now Bears went from end to end to score through Ilona Maher. Amber Reed took Gallagher’s place in the scrum and won a penalty. From there the visitors built and built. Simi Pam, now on, made a telling half-break, and Bears worked a player over, with still only 14 present. 19-15
Maher’s day was done. We have yet to discover whether her career in England is over too.
Aitchison was happy to offer Jasmine Joyce-Butchers a cross-kick inside her own 22! But later she overcooked a kick to the corner, to give G-H a life-line. From Matthews on the 22 to Sing on halfway, G-H ate up the metres.
On 57 minutes Reed left for an HIA, replaced by Meg Varley; fortunately she did return. But now we saw G-H at their best. The ball swung left then right, for Zoe Aldcroft to cross close to the posts. The inevitable two points from Sing opened up an 11-point lead. 26-15 Home and dry?
John Michell chewed his gum with passion. Louis Deacon looked thoughtful.
Bears knew they had to produce. The pack drove to the G-H 22, but a hopeful wide pass from Bevan flew into touch. And yet, Bears stole the line-out on the left and Millie David somehow grounded the ball on the far right, her 17th of the campaign, before being invited into touch. An astonishing piece of gymnastics. 26-20
Bristol attacked again; a long kick through came to Sing who ran it back. A Lleucu George kick wide right came to Mia Venner, then Hannah Jones dummied to go over. It was the new Welsh head coach looking on! 33-20
The champions were perfectly happy to let Sing add three points from in front. First had beaten fourth by the comfortable margin you might have expected.
Result: Glos-Pury 36 Bears 20
Player of the Match: Zoe Aldcroft
Referee: Alex Thomas
Teams
Gloucester-Hartpury
1 El Perry 2 Neve Jones 3 Maud Muir 4 Sarah Beckett 5 Zoe Aldcroft (co-captain) 6 Kate Williams 7 Bethan Lewis 8 Alex Matthews 9 Mo Hunt (co-captain) 10 Lleucu George 11 Pip Hendy 12 Tatyana Heard 13 Hannah Jones 14 Mia Venner 15 Emma Sing
16 Gillian Boag 17 Mackenzie Carson 18 Kathryn Buggy 19 Steph Else 20 Georgia Brock 21 Meg Davies 22 Millie Hyett 23 Rachel Lund
Bristol Bears
1 Hannah Botterman 2 Lark Atkin-Davies 3 Sarah Bern 4 Hollie Cunningham 5 Abbie Ward (co-captain) 6 Alisha Joyce-Butchers 7 Christiana Balogun 8 Evie Gallagher 9 Keira Bevan 10 Holly Aitchison 11 Ilona Maher 12 Amber Reed 13 Phoebe Murray 14 Jasmine Joyce-Butchers 15 Courtney Keight
16 Holly Phillips 17 Simi Pam 18 Elliann Clarke 19 Delaney Burns 20 Rownita Marston-Mulhearn 21 Ffion Lewis 22 Meg Varley 23 Millie David
Afterthoughts
The only gaps in Glos-Pury’s performance came in the opening stages. They will want to ensure a proper start against Sarries. But most people agreed this second semi was far superior to the first.
Strange to find Vodaphone described as “generous” for allowing Kingsholm to be renamed for one day only. You might have thought them only too pleased to find themselves so in the news.
What are the chances of four other clubs disputing the next set of semi-finals? Ah, I thought you’d say that.
Ticket prices are edging up; £20 at Gloucester. Always a good sign.
