Women’s rugby Harlequins prove too strong for battling Bears
Bristol Bears Women 10 Harlequins Ladies 39
BRISTOL Bears Women were put to the sword by a rampant Harlequins Ladies side at Shaftesbury Park. Bristol pushed the Londoners all the way in their round two Tyrrells Premier 15s clash at The Stoop in September, but after building a healthy 26-9 lead at the break, had to settle for a 26-26 draw.
But on this occasion, despite playing in front of their loyal and vocal home support, the Bears were blown away by the powerful Harlequins outfit.
The game got off to a bad start for the Bears with a double injury whammy straight from the kick-off, with Kate Newton and Ebony Jef- feries clashing heads. Jefferies, who already had stitches in her chin, needed more stitches to a cut on her temple and was taken to hospital for further examination, while Newton received 20 stitches to a gaping wound on her forehead.
The Bears could also rightly feel hard done by with some of the early calls from the officials, as their problems compounded. That said, there was really only one team in it for large swathes of the match, and there’s no doubt Quins won the physical battle in every department.
The Bears were under pressure from the off but held firm until 23 minutes when the ball spilled out the side of a scrum and was fed through the hands to winger Heather Cowell, who fended off the covering tackle of Cat McNaney to finish in the corner.
The hosts responded well and found themselves inches short of the whitewash after a fantastic break from Lucy Attwood, but the Bears were met by a resilient Quins defence, who forced a knock-on on their line.
Captain Clara Nielson led from the front throughout the first period and she almost managed to burrow her way over the line.
Cowell crossed for a further two tries in the first half, the first coming from a length-of-the-field break by Quins and the second after Shaunagh Brown broke through the midfield and the ball was kept alive by the visitors for the winger to dot down in the corner.
The Bears came out fighting in the second half and strong carrying from Poppy Leitch and Daisie Mayes, in particular, gave the Bears go-forward ball. However, Quins went on to open the scoring in the second period when former Bristol player Zoe Saynor powered over from short range. Bristol kept battling away and got their just reward when flanker Daisie Mayes went over. But three further scores from Georgia Newman, Shaunagh Brown and Bethan Dainton put Quins out of sight. The Bears did have the final say when wing Lilian Stoeger-Goddard crossed late on.
Bristol Bears United were also beaten at home by their Harlequins counterparts, going down 27-0 at Shaftesbury Park.
In South West North Two, Chipping Sodbury Ladies came out 14-5 winners over Thornbury Ladies in a derby, Bath Ladies beat Gordano Ladies 10-5 and Westbury Ladies edged past North Bristol Ladies 15-7. Old Bristolians Ladies’ game with Hornettes was postponed.