Another enthralling final that divided sharply into two pieces.

Bears showed their colours at once, running the ball out to the wing with deep passes, then back the other way. But a last loose offering showed the risks of that approach to life.

It was significant that Holly Aitchison was given the No10 job, if not the shirt: common sense prevailed in the Bears’ camp.

It took G-H a whole five minutes to start looking dangerous, but a first raid was stopped by an Evie Gallagher jackal. From there Bears dominated the penalty count, and on the quarter-hour put together a breathless move of deft handling and evasive running. G-H’s famed defensive systems just managed to claim a ‘held-up’ over their own line.

As Sam Monaghan lay in the backfield clutching a leg, Bears spread the ball once more. This time they had the overlap and a try by Courtney Keight. (0-5).

The pace had been relentless, and the temperature was 20 degrees, so it felt Saharan after recent weeks. Sadly the game came to a halt, as a stretcher was needed for Monaghan.

The returning Sarah Bern had thrown a short no-look pass into touch – she smiled broadly – but now she saved Bears’ blushes. Beth Lewis threatened to run home after an unsuccessful chip by Aitchison. Another smile as Bern answered with a deadly jackal.

It took G-H 25 minutes to break the Bears’ line decisively. Close support from Lewis and Sarah Beckett gave Mo Hunt the pleasure of crossing close to the left post. Emma Sing ensured the goal. (7-5)

A dramatic sequence on the half-hour: Hunt gave away yet another penalty to leave Bears with a line-out close in. Where have I seen this before? Botterman gives Atkin-Davies the call, there’s a catch and drive to the line, but somehow G-H hold them out. Result: one more penalty to Bears. A repeat, only this time backs come rushing in to add some poundage.

Sara Cox had to climb over a pile to bodies to get to the facts. Try, to Atkin-Davies of course! But this second try scored wide meant two missed conversions. (10-7)

Bears now built a 20-phase move, using jinking wingers and bullocking forwards. As you would expect from any Red Roses’ match, Botterman had the final word.

Rownita Marston-Mulhearn picked the ball up at the back of a scrum and thumped it into touch.

Half-time: 17-7

This wasn’t going to script. You may be familiar with the joys of an unbeaten season. If you are, you’ll know that the threat of a first defeat can leave you short of ideas. G-H, having lost only one game in two seasons (by two points), showed their frailty by the vast number of penalties (9) they gave away in the first 40. More than one had led to a Bears’ score.

Simi Pam replaced Bern at once.

G-H responded to Sean Lynn’s words by reverting to their normal style. Bears countered with trade-mark rolling mauls, to slow the game down, but G-H came again. Sing was twice involved, and Beth Lewis forced her way over to give red-and-white favours the chance to wave madly.

There then followed a prolonged debate between referee and TMO about the grounding. In the end the verdict was that Meryl Smith had got enough of her hand under the ball to disallow the try. Some of us might have seen the situation differently.

In addition, G-H’s line-out wasn’t functioning 100%. I daren’t call it desperation, but G-H were throwing the ball around like a hot potato. Now Hunt wanted to avoid being held over the line, so attempted an off-load to avoid a drop-out. It fell into Bears’ paws.

A short break gave G-H the chance to regather their thoughts. The outcome was a try on the far left for Pip Hendy, via a fine long pass from George. Sing kicked an unlikely conversion from outside the 5m line to reach 144 points for the season. (17-14)

Tatyana Heard is some player. Now she brought Smith to ground with a clattering tackle, and G-H won another penalty. More magical handling, and G-H were back to normal; try to Sing on the left. She converted another difficult chance. (17-21)

Were any England selectors blushing as they watched? It’s a rarity for an England player to be contracted, then uncontracted.

An accurate diagonal by George sent Reneeqa Bonner scurrying back. Her instinct was to run, not clear. It proved unwise. G-H regained the ball and the ball spun wide yet again. Now it was Mia Venner’s turn to score. Yet another searching feed from George.

That was three tries in seven minutes! (17-28) We had to check our whereabouts; we might have been at Kingsholm, so loud was the support. Bears were crumbling. On 67 minutes it was Hannah Jones’ turn to get on the scoreboard, after multiple drives and passes. (17-33) Just pause to compare that with the half-time score.

Into the last ten minutes and Bears countered bravely, as they had to. But they were losing their shape too easily. One long attack petered out into touch, and their chances diminished when Aitchison had to leave the field with a faulty leg.

Ella Lovibond, just into action, benefited from a wonderful off-load by Phoebe Murray to Jenny Hesketh, then an over-the-top pass to reduce the margin. But only five minutes remained. (24-33)
As G-H won another penalty, Hunt played ca’canny and asked Sing to take a time-eating kick from nearer the half-way line than the 10m. Easy-peasy.

Another trophy was in the bag.

The attendance was over 7,000. The noise it created added a few noughts to the end.

Result: Bristol Bears 24 Gloucester-Hartpury 36

Player of the Match: Sarah Beckett

Teams

Bristol Bears

15 Meryl Smith 14 Reneeka Bonner 13 Phoebe Murray 12 Holly Aitchison 11 Courtney Keight 10 Amber Reed (co-captain) 9 Keira Bevan 1 Hannah Botterman 2 Lark Atkin-Davies 3 Sarah Bern 4 Delaney Burns 5 Abbie Ward (co-captain) 6 Alisha Joyce-Butchers 7 Evie Gallagher 8 Rownita Marston-Mulhearn
16 Jess Sprague 17 Simi Pam 18 Elliann Clarke 19 Hollie Cunningham 20 Gabriella Nigrelli 21 Lucy Burgess 22 Ella Lovibond 23 Jenny Hesketh

Gloucester-Hartpury

15 Emma Sing 14 Mia Venner 13 Hannah Jones 12 Tatyana Heard 11 Pip Hendy 10 Lleucu George 9 Mo Hunt (co-captain) 1 Mackenzie Carson 2 Neve Jones 3 Maud Muir 4 Sarah Beckett 5 Sam Monaghan 6 Georgia Brock 7 Beth Lewis 8 Zoe Aldcroft (co-captain)
16 Amy Dale 17 El Perry 18 Sisilia Tuipulotu 19 Kate Williams 20 Steph Else 21 Bianca Blackburn 22 Millie Hyett 23 Rachel Lund

Officials:
Referee: Sara Cox
ARs: Harry Walbaum and Holly Wood TMO: Nikki O’Donnell

Afterthoughts

Imagine: a very emotional English coach; a very calm Welsh coach. National sterotypes overturned!

We got a hint of the strength of both squads when Sisilia Tuipulotu finally appeared on 75 minutes.

In a game of such tight margins, the tempatation is to look for unwanted weaknesses. In the first half it amounted to G-H’s penalty count and line-out efficiency. Abbie Ward had a word in Sara Cox’s ear about that first issue. Nothing doing.

After the break was it Bears’ style of play that proved their undoing on a warm day? They had done so much running and supporting. Now the penalties went the other way, and Glaws know how to exploit them.

A more general feature involved the conversions. Bears went down by 12 points. The try-count was only 5-4 in Gloucester’s favour; place-kicking made a vital difference. Sing totalled 16 points.