Exeter Chiefs Women v Gloucester Hartpury

Chiefs Women battled right to the end to take a losing try bonus point against the champions Gloucester Hartpury.

The four ties were not enough as the home side put away six tries and four conversions to ease back into the top spot of the PWR.

The win was a fitting tribute to centurion Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt and a credit to the set-piece Gloucester Hartpury mastered with prop and Player of the Match Maud Muir leading the way.

The scrum and the lineout were very much dominated by the home side, serving up several of their tries, including the first for flanker Georgia Brock from a driving maul.

Chiefs, though, hit back straight away with a stunning piece of running from full-back Sabrina Poulin. A Gloucester Hartpury lineout ball had fallen into the hands of prop DaLeaka Menin, who took off at pace, before Chiefs moved the ball across the line to Poulin. She carved through the defence to make the score five-all.

The might of the Gloucester Hartpury scrum was in evidence at the first time of asking but the penalty they were awarded handed Chiefs their first scrum when they knocked on in the lineout.

Chiefs’ scrum looked solid too at first and credit to hooker Kayleigh Priest who came on for her PWR debut after an early injury to El Febrey. The second Chiefs scrum did not go their way though and Gloucester Hartpury got the penalty.

Fly-half Lleucu George kicked the penalty to touch, of course, and the ensuing drive saw hooker Kelsey Jones go over to make the score 10-5. George added the extras to make it 12-5.

The set-piece continued to be a powerful scoring platform for Gloucester Hartpury. Their next lineout saw the ball move from touchline to touchline and back again, with patient recycling resulting in a devastating carry and try from prop Maud Muir. She added her second just minutes later from a similar scenario.

A penalty to Chiefs saw Priest throw the ball to No 8 Maddie Feaunati who passed out to Alex Tessier and then fellow centre Nancy McGillivray but the next pass found Gloucester Hartpury hands. A second penalty chance saw the ball lost in the lineout.

Gloucester Hartpury were starting to let the penalties rack up but Chiefs were struggling to make them count. A lineout on the 10-metre line looked promising but the ball was held up over the line.

But, to their credit, Chiefs kept coming and attacked with 14 players while lock Linde van der Velden was on the floor receiving treatment. No sooner had she got to her feet, the Dutchwoman scored to end the half 26-10.

An early second half penalty saw Chiefs make good progress in Gloucester Hartpury territory with Priest looking impressive in the loose, but as the visitors closed into the 22, the ball was scrambled back by the champions. A positive start at least.

It did not last long as winger Mia Venner found the space to carve through the defenders, in the same corner favoured by Poulin, to score the opening try of the second half.

It looked like Muir might be in for her hat-trick when Hunt released the ever-present Tatyana Heard. The England prop had some short yards to cover down the wing but Chiefs managed to bundle her into touch giving them a lineout on their own five-metre line. The throw was not straight, however, and Gloucester Hartpury pounced and scored through flanker Bethan Lewis.

With Chiefs struggling to make any headway in the second half, they brought on replacements to try to inject some energy into their game. Gloucester Hartpury started throwing the ball around for fun with Chiefs desperately looking for their next score. The fresh legs came into play as Claudia Moloney-MacDonald found some space to send replacement winger Eilidh Sinclair over for try number three.

Chiefs never gave up, even when a George penalty kick to touch looked like being the final move of the game with the drive cheered on by The Shed. Heard was awaiting to make holes in Chiefs defence bur Sinclair gathered a loose ball for Flo Robinson to kick ahead. Venner caught the kick but knocked the ball on as Robinson tackled her. That scrum-half never knows when to give up!

The Chiefs scrum held firm enough for Robinson to get the ball away to Moloney-MacDonald, who streaked down the wing to get the fourth try and the bonus point.