Gloucester-Hartpury v Exeter Chiefs
Certainly not G-H. No Zoe Stratford today, nor Emma Sing. The spotlight fell instead on Mo Hunt, the local favourite, celebrating her 100th appearance for the club.
It was forward domination that did the trick. The longer the first half lasted, the greater the toll on the Chiefs’ pack, normally their great source of strength. It’s not often you see DaLeaka Menin hauled off the field so early.
G-H scored early. Instead of driving a line-out maul, they transferred the ball fast to Tat Heard. She stepped close to the line, and Georgia Brock crossed.
Chiefs responded soon enough. They worked the ball out to Sabrina Poulin, and she cut inside to weave her way over.
But in between they suffered a sad loss. El Febrey, only recently recovered from a long-term injury, was forced off in the fourth minute. With Cliodhna Moloney-Macdonald and Emily Tuttosi already missing, it fell to Kayleigh Priest, a true Devonian, to make her debut. She did thoroughly well, but resources were being tested.
As the half developed, scrum penalties mounted against the Chiefs. It was Maud Muir who led the way, dominating scrums, while adding her own touches (forceful and delicate) out wide. She added two tries to the shopping-list.
Linde van den Velden had her own adventure: one moment she was on the floor receiving treatment; the next scoring the visitors’ second try.
Half-time: 26-10
Chiefs started the second 40 at top pace. But a pass from Nancy McGillivray was intercepted by Mia Venner.
She added her version of Poulin’s try with a delightful run to the line.
Bethan Lewis had already opened up a sizeable gap with a try; 38-10, and the game looked dead.
It’s greatly to Chiefs’ credit that they came back so strongly. Ceilidh Sinclair completed a third score, then as the clock turned red, Claudia Moloney-Macdonald skated away down the left touchline to secure a bonus-point that may yet prove vital.
Result: 38-20
Player of the Match: Maud Muir
Teams
Glos-Pury: 1 O’DOWD 2 K. JONES 3 MUIR 4 MONAGHAN 5 BECKETT 6 K. WILLIAMS 7 BROCK 8 MATTHEWS 9 HUNT 10 GEORGE 11 LUND 12 HEARD 13 DALLAVALLE 14 VENNER 15 METCALFE
16 SIMPSON 17 BRADLEY 18 SAMUDA 19 ELSE 20 LEWIS 21 BLACKBURN 22 GOULDEN 23 BUNKER
Chiefs: 1 ROGERS 2 FEBREY 3 MENIN 4 vd VELDEN 5 WALL 6 E. ROBINSON 7 ALLEN 8 FEAUNATI 9 F. ROBINSON 10 McGOVERNE 11 C. MOLONEY- MCDONALD 12 McGILLIVRAY 13 TESSIER 14 BUCHANAN 15 POULIN
16 PRIEST 17 SWANN 18 RULE 19 DUGUID 20 NIGRELLI 21 SINCLAIR 22 CANTORNA 23 ELWORTHY
Afterthought
Astonishing to think that Mo Hunt was joining two others in the 23 who already had 100 caps in their locker, Bianca Blackburn and Rachel Lund.
In earlier times Mo played for Lichfield alongside Emily Scarratt. When the club failed to satisfy Prem 15s requirements in 2017 (questions asked in Parliament!), she switched to G-H, which just happened to lie in her native county.
This latest result, between clubs 1st and 3rd in the league, opens up a colossal 19-point gap. Such is the Cherry and Whites’ mastery of events.
Kingsholm seems to be the only major club in the country where the jeering of opposition errors is an accepted part of the landscape. All in the best of fun of course.
One sufferer today was Alex Tessier, who didn’t enjoy one of her best games.
It was pleasing to see four Wasps players on parade, plus Cliodhna Moloney-Macdonald offering her half-time thoughts, and Giselle Mather her razor-sharp analysis on co-comms.
