A dream day four Smith as Glos big winners
Worcester ........ 7 Glos-Hartpury ..27
KELLY Smith starred with four tries as GloucesterHartpury kept their top four hopes alive with victory over Worcester Valkyries.
Smith scored four in a fierce affair at Sixways in which the hosts, without a win this season, offered stern resistance.
The visitors went ahead early on as Natasha Hunt picked off a pass deep in Valkyries territory to dot down.
Worcester wasted no time responding, however, levelling instantly as Lark Davies barrelled over at the back of an unstoppable maul.
Gloucester-Hartpury dominated the next ten minutes of the game but despite all their territory and possession, handling errors stopped them in their tracks.
Worcester had flashes of brilliance from Cara Clarke and Chloe-May Barton to push upfield, but an inability to commit numbers undermined their attacking efforts.
The visitors regained the lead just after the half-hour mark when multiple turnovers opened up space for Smith to go over in the corner.
Smith added her second try to stretch the lead to ten points on the stroke of halftime.
After a tense start to the second-half, Smith completed her hat-trick and Gloucester’s bonus-point try on 50 minutes, before nabbing a fourth shortly after.
A well-worked Worcester drive up the left including Brooke Bradley, Vicky Laflin and Charlie Murray took them into Gloucester territory but couldn’t find a finishing touch.
The away side closed the game out for an eighth win of the season.