Women’s rugby Visitors victorious as Bears struggle in the rain

BRISTOL Bears Women struggled in wet conditions as visitors Gloucester-Hartpury secured a 28-3 victory at Shaftesbury Park on Saturday.

The visitors opened the scoring in the West Country derby via the boot of fly-half, Lleuca George. Three minutes into the action the Bears were panellised for not rolling away inside their twenty-two, giving the Cherry and Whites an opportunity to kick a penalty goal.

Bristol Bears responded soon after through a penalty of their own.

Gloucester-Hartpury were caught offside in their red zone, allowing Snowsill to step up and bring the two sides level.

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm in attacking during the opening stages with the rain hammering down at Shaftesbury Park.

Gloucester-Hartpury would go on to edge in front through the boot of George, which was followed by a breakaway score against the run of play.

Bears’ Lucie Skuse spilt the ball in attack and Tatyana Heard picked it up to sprint 60 metres upfield and offload to Hannah Jones, who finished the job and opened up a lead for the visitors.

Bristol failed to control the slippery ball, which impacted their ability to gain any momentum when in attack.

The visitors would bag their second try of the game prior to the half-time whistle. Ellie Underwood broke down the right wing and she found Bianca Blackburn on the inside to dot down and give the visitors a 3-16 lead at the half.

The second period mirrored the first as Gloucester-Hartpury got to grip with the conditions better than there Bears. Five minutes in they had their third, spreading the ball the width of the pitch for Daisy Fahey to pick off a gap in the defensive line and slide over the line. Bristol failed to trouble the Cherry and Whites with their only chance coming from a trademark arcing run from the lightning Jasmine Joyce, who took the Bears within five but Gloucester-Hartpury forced the turnover and cleared the danger.

The visitors wrapped up the scoring with ten minutes to go electing to keep the ball tight in the red zone to allow Sarah Bonar to crash over. Bristol Bears Women: 15. Jasmine Joyce, 14. Lily Stoeger-Goddard, 13. Phoebe Murray, 12. Lucie Skuse, 11. Kyara Martin, 10. Elinor Snowsill, 9. Kayleigh Powell; 1. Sophie Phillips, 2. Clara Nielson ©, 3. Ellie Mulhearn,

4. Natalia John, 5. Hollie Cunningham, 6. Rownita Marston, 7. Manon Johnes, 8. Siwan Lillicrap

Impact Players: 16. Alice Lockwood, 17. Stef Evans, 18. Megan Wynne, 19. Megan Barwick,

20. Serena Settembri, 21. Courtney Keight,

22. Georgia Newman, 23. Jo Smith Scorers: Snowsill (Pen 10’) Gloucester-Hartpury: 15. Daisy Fahey, 14. Ellie Underwood, 13. Hannah Jones, 12. Tatyana Heard, 11. Mille Wood, 10. Lleucu George, 9. Bianca Blackburn; 1. Ellena Perry,

2. Robyn Lock, 3. Cerys Hale, 4. Shya Pennockl, 5. Sarah Bonar, 6. Gwen Crabb, 7. Sian Williams, 8. Shona Powell-Hughes Replacements: 16. C Jones, 17. K Hope, 18. K Buggy, 19. E Mills, 20. T Copson, 21. A Maude, 22. C Large, 23. E Sing

Scorers: George (Pen 3’, 19’) (Con 61’), Jones (Try 25’), Blackburn (Try 32’), Fahey (Try 45’), Bonar (Try 61’)

» This article first appeared on www.bristolbearsrugby.com