English Premiership: Round Seven Summary

Action shot, showing Bristol V Richmond, is thanks to Lloyd Guy

Sharks 12 Lichfield 32

Lichfield made the relatively short journey up the motorway to play Mowden Sharks to face a side who have been struggling to make a major mark on the Premiership so far this season.

The game marks the end of the first leg of matches for both teams and both sides were looking to establish a stronger footing in the league with a win.

The visitors got off to a strong start scoring taking the Sharks defensive line by surprise and scoring a try early on through halfback Mo Hunt after some intuitive offloading and support play. The home side conceded again three minutes later with hooker Vicki Fleetwood following some quality handling which stretched the Sharks defence just too far.

Having gone 0-12 down after only 10 minutes, Mowden struck back with a forward drive for the line and a score for prop Hannah Shield to keep the game from running away from them. The home side applied some consistent pressure over the next 20 and made good ground, threatening the Lichfield line on numerous occasions however they couldnt suppress an in-form visitor outfit from sneaking another try and a penalty both courtesy of flyhalf Emily Scarratt.

After halftime, the traffic was all one way for the home side for the first 20 minutes and the Sharks were rewarded for their domination with another power play inspired forward drive this time through prop Sally Austen. At 12-20, the game was there to compete for and both sides really took it to each other on the gain line with some big tackles being put in.

The game eventually escaped the grasp of Mowden when Lichfield clinched a couple of late tries through Vicki Jackson and Mo Hunt resulting from errors from the Sharks defence.

Bristol 3 Richmond 5

In horrible conditions, Bristol and Richmond battled hard in this tight game,

The poor conditions throughout made handling and passing efforts difficult and heroic defence from both sides kept the score as low as it was, in a match which neither side could register a score in the opening half.

Richmond broke quite early in attack in the opening few minutes, but Bristols full back Kate Hancock showed her skills with a try saving tackle right on the line.

From then on, Bristol dominated much of the first half with some fine interplay and strong forward dominance, however when Richmonds dangerous backs did get possession they looked like scoring,and it took strong home team defence to keep them at bay, with the backrow of Marlie Packer, Izzy Noel-Smith and Claire Molloy all showing an impressive work rate

Bristol stepped up the pressure in the second half and were rewarded with an early penalty kicked by Amber Reed, who also impressed with her defensive efforts. However Richmond came back with a try from the excellent Alex Matthews and the visitors started to look like they were finding their spark.

A lack of discipline resulted in a total of three yellow cards for Bristol and one for Richmond and both sides had to rely on strong defence to not concede in the second period.

Thurrock 12 Saracens 45

Leaking early tries in this game meant it was always going to be an uphill battle for Thurrock against their more experienced counterparts.

Under pressure in their own 22 almost from the kick off, a missed touch finder saw Saracens counter attack quickly and a missed tackle gave Leann Riley a clear run to the line after six minutes.

Thurrock pushed for a score of their own, but from turnover ball in their own half Saracens attacked left and then quickly wide right and with two defenders taking the ball carrier, Louise Meadows was left with an easy run to the posts. Conversions from Mandy Marchak left the T-Birds 0-14 down in only 12 minutes.

The home side now staged a fight back from the kick off and with Saracens being constantly warned for offences around the breakdown, forward power around the ruck saw Jo Convoy over the line, Emily Scotts conversion brought he score to 7-14 and Ts were back in the game.

Further offences at the breakdown saw a Saracens player in the bin, but despite growing forward dominance, Thurrock failed to capitalise and once more quick attack from turnover ball in Ts 22, followed by missed tackles allowed Ama Ofkar to skip over the line, the conversion leaving Ts 7-21 down.

Early in the second half Saracens scored through Gallagher and Marchak to put the game beyond any remaining doubt but Thurrock did grab another score from Kat Emerson whose pace beat the defence on the outside.

The last five minutes were all Saracens, as tired T-Birds again missed tackles to allow two relatively easy scores for Gallagher and Riley. Thurrock will be hoping for a quick return from injury for Captain Mercedes Foy and England centre Rachael Burford.

Worcester 19 Wasps 3

Worcester were pushed all the way in this game played in poor weather.

Worcester should have opened their account in the early stages of the game but the final pass went to Wasps and this then saw Worcester commit a series of uncharacteristic handling errors in the back line. These unforced errors enabled Wasps to exert excellent pressure and the game quickly developed into Worcesters attack versus Wasps strong defence.

The visitors competed tirelessly and effectively in the middle of the park, appearing to have undertaken some extensive homework on the home sides tactics, but apart from an occasional break from Michaela Staniford, Worcesters defence was not really threatened.

The tactics of the visitors proved to be just right and Wasps were able to keep Worcesters previous try scoring regime at bay until the closing minutes of the half, when a more accustomed passage of backs play saw Kat Merchant score in the corner.

The second half saw Worcester concede a series of penalties from the kick which subsequently enabled Sarah McKenna to put Wasps on the score board with penalty that seemed to take an age to execute. Worcester emerged with more vigour in attack and several exciting runs from Heather Fisher were rewarded with a try under the posts, which Megan Goddard converted.

The score seemed to restore Worcesters confidence and constant pressure was then exerted on the Wasps line, aided by some astute kicking from Ceri Large. It seemed only a matter of time that Worcester would increase their lead and a break from Danielle Waterman was finished via the fine support play of Merchant. Megan Goddard took the extras with aplomb.

Goddard came close to increasing the lead with a difficult penalty kick but Worcester had to settle for this margin, Wasps continuing to battle in defence to the end.