World Rugby Club Wrap-Up

New Zealand NPCAuckland moved to the top of the table in the Women's Provincial Championship when taking a 101-0 win over Bay of Plenty. With previous leader Waikato sitting out the bye, Auckland moved to 24 points, four ahead of Waikato.Wellington maintained third place when taking a 35-18 win over Canterbury while Counties Manukau kept their hopes alive with a 55-24 win over Otago.Counties Manukau still face a last round game against Waikato next week, but they will have the knowledge that their closest rival for a top four position Otago has to play Auckland.Women's Provincial Championship Results:Wellington 35 (Jackie Patea, Joanah Ngan-Woo, Ayesha Leti-liga, Aimee Sutorius, Lizzie Goulden, Rubi Finau tries; Goulden con, pen) Canterbury 18 (Estelle Uren, Keshia Grant tries; Kendra Cocksedge con, 2 pen). HT: 7-8Counties Manukau 55 (Sharnita Dudley, Renee Wickliffe 3, Arihiana Marino, Shontelle Woodman, Aroha Savage, Hinewai Pomare, Cynthia Ta'ala tries; Marino 5 con) Otago 24 (Greer Muir 2, Hollie Fraser, Epe Elisara tries; Megan Manson 2 con). HT: 24-12Auckland 101 (Lydia Crossman, Natathlia Debnorah-Moors 4, Makineti Hufunga 3, Fiao'o Faamausili 2, Annabel Sargeant, Eloise Blackwell 2, Kelvery Longopoa, Aleisha Nelson, Shannon Leota, Hasting Leota tries; Dayna Harrison 8 con) Bay of Plenty 0Manawatu 58 (Crystal Mayes 3, Carrie Lobb, Janna Vaughn, Aroha Nuku, Karin Ingram, Shanna Porima, Keri Hayden, Lauren Balsillie tries; Krysten Duffill 4 con) Hawke's Bay 8 (Sylvia Bockman try, pen).

English Women's Premiership

Richmond are top of the table after four rounds after their comfortable 41-10 win over Worcester at the weekend.  They lead the table ahead of Saracens on points difference. The home side opened the scoring through a well finished try from Irish player Jackie Shiels and her side grew into the game with the Richmond pack getting on top. Anna Caplice was over next to double Richmond's lead but Worcester hit back for a 10-5 halftime score. An Emma Croker try and a Shiels conversion pushed Richmond into a stronger lead.  A couple of more touchdowns up front meant Richmond secured the bonys point and though Worcester scored late, it was too little too late.

Wasps just edged Darlington Mowden Park Sharks in a fiercely fought encounter in Acton with the home side winning 27-25. DMP scored at the end of the game but a missed conversion meant it was the girls in black and gold who took victory.Sharks scored early with pacey wide playerRuth Laybourn putting the first points on the board with a try converted by Sam Jamieson. This strong start continued with a try from scrum half Fiona Davidson to see Wasps trailing 12-0 early on.Tess Gard’ner kicked a penalty for Wasps and Dal Dennison went over to score their first try of the day. Gard’ner converted, taking the score to 10-12. The girls in black and gold continued to work hard and this paid off with another try, courtesy of Tina Lee, whose sniping run over the line put the home team up 15-12 going into half time.Claire Purdy, in her14th year at Wasps, grapped a try next butJamieson kicked a penalty to take the visitors up within 5 points to 20– 15.Spurred on by this, Darlington worked hard on and off the ball – Tamara Taylor getting a try and levelling the score to 20-20 but with four minutes leftMarissa Lowe beat two Darlington players out wide to score, converted by Gard’ner for a 27-20 lead. The final few minutes carried on at an intense pace and DMP winger, Laybourn, hit a hard line out wide to score in the final play of the game. The try was not converted and Wasps walked away with a narrow win.

Bristol ran in seven tries against Aylesford for a 45-0 win.Jenny Fotheringham opened up the scoring followed four minutes later by Olivia Jones who thengrabbed a brace a few minutes later before England U20 Sarah Bern was over the line. Jones secured her hat-trick two minutes before half time, with Amber Reed successfully converting four of the five scores in the first half.Bristol carried on in the same vein in the second half, with Katie Mason showing off her exceptional footwork to touch down twice in the first 10 minutes of the half, with Reed converting the second to take the score to 0 – 45.

Saracens also remained unbeaten, with 24-15 win over Lichfield. After a very tight first quarter, Saracens scored first just before the half hour mark and then added another for a14-0 half time lead. An early yellow card in the second half for Lichfield was very well exploited by Saracens, who added two further unconverted tries to after 47 and 49 minutes give them a 24-0 lead.

As the game wore on, Lichfield upped their intensity and found their rhythm again. Following two yellow cards for Saracens, who were becoming increasingly stretched, Lichfield were finally able to score. Katie Trevarthen scored her first try for the club after 74 mins followed by a well taken try from Holly Aitcheson in the 79th minute. Nancy Stone added one conversion and a penalty to make the final score a far more respectable 24-15 to Saracens.

View the tablehere

Irish Division 1

The second round of the All Ireland Division 1 league was played out at the weekend.The most dramatic conclusions were played out in two contrasting games as Blackrock came out on top by the narrowest of margins in a thrilling Dublin derby, overcoming defending champions Old Belvedere by a single point at Stradbrook in a game that ended 6-5.The reigning queens of Irish rugby, Old Belvedere were besieged by their capital city rivals in the opening 40 minutes as the first half was played mainly in 'Belvo territory. Despite their territorial dominance, it took Blackrock until the stroke of half-time to get off the mark.Michelle Claffey making her comeback from the cruciate ligament injury she sustained last season, was nerveless when confronted with a penalty kick to put send her side into a 3-0 lead.Old Belvedere regained their composure at the interval and returned to the pitch a vastly different side. The title holders turned the screw on the leaders and Blackrock cracked, Debbie Clarkereceiving a yellow card after 48 minutes for persistent infringements around the breakdown by her team.Ireland international Ailis Egan crossed for the game's only try with an hour played. From a scrum on the 22, the Belvedere prop gathered the ball and broke down the left to score. Her international colleague Nora Stapleton was unable to add the conversion.The Stradbrook air crackled with tension as the seconds counted down. With two minutes remaining, Old Belvedere conceded a penalty. Claffey duly put over the three-pointer and proved the returning heroine for Blackrock with her two penalties at the end of each half winning the game.Sunday's action began in Belfast with newly-promoted Cooke opening their campaign against UL Bohemians and narrowley missing out 27-32.It was a pulsating battle with the newcomers proving they are comfortable sitting at the top table. The momentum swung first one way and then the other in a thrilling encounter that saw ten tries amid plenty of attacking verve.A hat-trick of tries from player of the game, Liz Burke, two more by Edel Murphy and a penalty and two conversions from Ireland's Six Nations-winning captain Niamh Briggs helped UL Bohs to win 32-27 but their hosts almost snatched victory in their first game at this level.After the Limerick side took an early lead, Cooke settled into the game and scrum half Beth Creganbecoming their first player to score in Division 1 this season. Hooker Lesley Megarity crashed over for a second Cooke try and another front rower, Ilse van Staden, added a third before the half-time.UL Bohs came charging back at the northerners and regained the lead early in the second half, but prop Nikita Armstrong grabbed a try, converted by back rower Hannah Kilgore.The Limerick outfit regained the lead and with six minutes left to play it looked like all the points were heading south. Out-half Eliza Downey (pictured above) got Cooke's fifth try after 78 minutes to set up a grandstand finish, but Bohs clung on for a hard-fought win while Cooke had to settle for two bonus points.At Park Avenue, Railway Union whitewashed a beleaguered Queen's side. The Dubliners ran in eight tries, including a brace from Ireland Sevens international Martina McCarthy (pictured above), as part of their 48 unanswered points.For the second Sunday in succession St. Mary's scored 20 points to secure victory, this time it was away to Highfield, who finished with a single try for five points.

(report thanks to IrishRugby.ie)

Scotland

The women's Varsity game was played out in front of 5,000 people at Murrayfield at the weekend.

Edinburgh University, with a sprinkling of Scotland and age-grade caps, were just too strong for their St Andrews counterparts winning 36-7.

Edinburgh led 24-0 at the interval with a hat-trick of tries from Scotland centre Lisa Thomson, a first year sports science student, and an additional counter from scrum-half Lisa Pullan. Stand-off Helen Nelson converted two of the tries, harnessing the elements as you would expect of a meteorology student!

Into the second-half and Edinburgh extended their lead with Sally Stott powering over for Nelson to convert. But St Andrews were determined to give their vocal followers something to cheer and from a quickly taken tap penalty for offside Fiona Cooper crashed over for their first try, converted by stand-off Abbie Henderson, a fresher.

Nelson added Edinburgh’s sixth try to leave the capital victorious 36-7.

Lisa Thomson was the player of the match and she received the Keri Holdsworth award.

Italy

The Italian Serie A kicks off this weekend.Click here for fixtures.