Seventh heaven as Firwood meet their Waterloo
GLOUCESTER-HARTPURY earned their second victory of the Premier 15s season with a commanding, seven-try bonus-point win over Firwood Waterloo at The Memorial Ground.
Gloucester-Hartpury bounced back from their last-gasp defeat to Loughborough Lightning – where they cleared 40 points but still came out on the losing side – with a clinical display in challenging wet conditions, Kelly Smith grabbing a hat-trick and Millie Wood recording two tries as the visitors dominated.
The hosts were sloppy in defence and remain on five points, having lost three straight games.
Early pressure from the visitors penned Firwood Waterloo back in their 22 and this told when the Gloucester-Hartpury back line put Smith – who made her England debut in this year’s Women’s Six Nations – through for a try just after the ten-minute mark.
After a driving maul, the visitors added to their lead with a sniping try from scrum-half Bianca Blackburn on 16 minutes before Smith rounded off a pair of slick moves in quick succession to complete her treble.
In the final ten minutes of the half, first Wood and then Ellie Underwood went over for the visitors, the right wing found in space after Firwood Waterloo were pushed back at the scrum.
Beth Stott kicked a penalty for the hosts but the half-time score read 38-3 to the visitors.
The second half was quieter but with less than ten minutes to go, Wood scored her second try before Laura Richie dotted down a Waterloo consolation on her Premier 15s debut.