PWR Round 17 Recap: Play-Offs draw one week closer in penultimate round of regular season
02/18/2025 07:32 AM
By PWR Media
It was a big weekend of PWR action, as the season heads towards a thrilling conclusion with permutations to ponder.There is now just one week left of the regular Premiership Women’s Rugby season, with Gloucester-Hartpury, Saracens, Harlequins and Bristol Bears holding down the spots in the top four.
FULL RESULTS: PREMIERSHIP WOMEN’S RUGBY ROUND 17
Harlequins Women 10 – 19 Bristol Bears Women / Trailfinders Women 43 – 45 Leicester Tigers Women
Saracens 21 – 12 Exeter Chiefs Women / Sale Sharks Women 24 – 41 Gloucester-Hartpury
Find your local Greene King and settle in for the 2025 Six Nations!
Harlequins 10-19 Bristol Bears – Twickenham Stoop
Bristol Bears kept alive their post-season hopes with a battling away victory over Harlequins, whose spot in the final four is already confirmed. Their regular season now concluded, Dave Ward’s side ensured they would have a vested interest watching Exeter Chiefs’ trip to Saracens, with victory for Saracens ultimately confirming Bears’ top four place.
Phoebe Murray opened the scoring for the visitors but Quins star Ellie Kildunne hit back, capitalising on Claudia Pena’s quick-thinking and perfectly weighted kick to level the scores with a trademark finish to delight the near 7,000 fans at the Stoop. Alisha Butchers-Joyce fired Bristol back ahead with some crafty work at the line-out, Holly Aitchison converting.
Kildunne’s tenacity put Quins back in the hunt until Sarah Bern bundled over from close range for arguably Bristol’s most important try of the season.
Harlequins 10
Tries: Ellie Kildunne (2)
Bristol 19
Tries: Phoebe Murray, Alisha Butchers-Joyce, Sarah Bern
Trailfinders Women 43 – 45 Leicester Tigers – Trailfinders Sports Club
Leicester Tigers claimed their third win of the season with an enthralling 45-43 win over Trailfinders Women. A back-and-forth first half saw Tigers go into the break 26-17 to the good thanks to tries from Tahlia Brody, Francesca McGhie and Meg Jones plus a penalty try.
Kate Zackary put Trailfinders ahead after just seven minutes but the hosts were unable to stay on top despite further tries two tries from Liz Musgrove and another from Jess Cooksey before half time. The ding-dong battle continued immediately after the break, Brody going over for her second two minutes after the restart before Vicky Laflin responded for Trailfinders.
Tigers stretched out in front as McGhie went over twice more to complete her hat-trick to put the visitors 45-22 ahead before Trailfinders looked to stage a late comeback. Lisa Thompson, Julia Schell and Rosie Inman all went over to set up a grandstand finish but Tigers held on for a narrow victory.
Trailfinders Women 43
Tries: Zackary, Cooksey, Musgrove (2), Thompson, Schell, Inman
Leicester Tigers 45
Tries: Brody (2), McGhie (3), Jones, Penalty Try
Saracens 21-12 Exeter Chiefs
Saracens booked their play-off place with a hard-fought 21-12 win over Exeter Chiefs at StoneX Stadium. Chiefs made a blistering start through Nancy McGillivray but Saracens responded in emphatic fashion through tries from Sophie Bridger, May Campbell and Poppy Cleall to head into the break in control.
The visitors looked for a way back into the contest in the second half as they sought to keep their own play-off hopes alive, and found a breakthrough just after the hour through Claudia MacDonald. But Saracens held out to seal victory to secure a top four spot, alongside Bristol Bears whose play-off place was also confirmed by Chiefs’ defeat.
Saracens 21
Tries: Bridger, Campbell, Cleall
Chiefs 12
Tries: McGillivray, MacDonald
Sale Sharks 24 – 41 Gloucester-Hartpury
Gloucester-Hartpury secured a home semi-final and will finish 1st in the PWR league campaign after tonight’s clinical 24-41 victory over Sale Sharks. Gloucester dominated the first half as Zoe Aldcroft, Rachel Lund, a Mia Venner all crossed the whitewash as the visitors closed in on their try scoring bonus point.
The Cherry-and-Whites continued to dominate early in the second half. Venner scored two more to reach her hat-trick, and Gillian Boag added more insult to injury for the Sharks. However, the hosts showed fight to the end as Sofia Steffan and Morwena Talling dotted down for Sharks. Gloucester replied quickly through Ranni Samuda, shutting off any possible fightback, before Erica Jarrell crossed for a Sharks consolation try.
Sharks 24
Tries: Stefan, Talling, Jarrell
Gloucester-Hartpury 41
Tries: Venner (3), Aldcroft, Lund, Boag, Samuda
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