PWR Final | Takeaways as Saracens end their title drought against Trailfinders

Saracens registered a record score in the PWR Final to claim their first English league title in four years against Trailfinders Women.

Marlie Packer scored a brace of first-half tries at the Twickenham Stoop as the North London club won 52-14. It was a ruthless performance from Alex Austerberry’s team, who scored three close-range tries before the 30 minute mark thanks to Julia Omokhuale and Packer’s dual efforts.

Sydney Gregson extended the Saracens lead ahead of half-time, while Jess Breach and Alysha Corrigan’s scores early in the second 40 minutes largely put the contest to bed. Barney Maddison’s Trailfinders did respond through Maya Monteil and Abi Burton efforts, but they paled in contrast to further Saracens tries from Zoe Harrison and Breach.

It was the biggest winning margin in a PWR Final [38], surpassing the club’s 43-21 win against Exeter Chiefs four years ago, and has potentially started a new chapter of success in the North London club’s history.

Here are three takeaways from the Twickenham Stoop as Saracens became champions of England… again…

Forwards know best

To take a commanding half-time lead Saracens resorted to the formula they know best; forward domination. Their first three scores – which came from Julia Omokhuale and a Marlie Packer brace – spoke to this. The kicking of Zoe Harrison, who pinned Trailfinders back into their 22m with a 50:22 and several more well-placed kicks, helped with this – but at the end of the day it was hard-hitting carries that battered down doors.

Almost stunned that their bright start came to nothing, Trailfinders had nothing to offer as Omokhuale and Packer lunged towards the whitewash to edge the North London club to glory. Those early endeavours opened the doors to Sydney Gregson’s score before the half, then Jess Breach’s and Alysha Corrigan’s just after it.

One of the best things about Saracens this season, which was a major reason the side were favourites to win Sunday’s match from the get-go, is their ability to play different styles. That is what Kévin Rouet has done as assistant backs and attack coach at StoneX Stadium. It is the style that took Canada back to the precipice of being world champions.

He has, of course, had help along the way. Olivia Apps has been an unwavering ball of energy and knew exactly what her international head coach wanted to implement. Knowing exactly when to change gears, move away from a forwards-oriented game and unleash the backs is an art all of its own. One that Saracens have got perfect.

‘That’ moment did not come for Trailfinders

For the opening minutes in West London, Trailfinders were on fire. The intensity which Barney Maddison’s team played with was sensational. But nothing came of it.

Any time the side in yellow jerseys got within five metres something went wrong. The ball got coughed up. Saracens disrupted the ruck. There was always something. Even at the end of the first-half, it was much the same, and the player advantage handed to Trailfinders as a result of Gabrielle Senft’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on came to nothing too. In fact, after the break when the Canadian was still smarting in the bin, Saracens furthered the daylight with Jess Breach and Alysha Corrigan tries.

When Trailfinders did finally get a score through Maya Montiel, with the final play of Senft’s yellow, the scoreboard read 45-7. It was insurmountable. It smacked of a team that did not get the rub of the green. That failed to make the most of any momentum that they did have for spells.

You almost immediately think about what comes next for the West London side. They have leadership that they need to replace with Kate Zackary’s departure. Then there is Meg Jones, who was key to everything that Maddison’s team did good. Games are not won by one player.

Whatever the case you are limitlessly impressed by what Trailfinders have done this season. After a couple of years in which the club has shown promise, all of a sudden you can consider them contenders. There is just a little bit more room to grow until their Vallis Way trophy cabinet can welcome some new arrivals.

Marlie Packer got the perfect send-off

If you had closed your eyes in the week and imagined what Marlie Packer’s last match for Saracens was going to look like, it would have looked something like this; at least one try, a fourth PWR title with Saracens and, probably, a yellow card.

All of those things happened. And it was glorious. It has become a running theme this season that, at 36, Packer still has so much to give. Bound for the Twickenham Stoop and Harlequins next season, we were given another one of those boundless, effervescent performances by the flanker.

In every carry, every drive of her legs had a little more desire behind it than the last. Each carry got a little angrier and forceful. Every single thing that Packer did mattered so much to her. And it all counted. It was the perfect goodbye to the club that she has called home for just shy of a decade

Such a player will be an immense miss to Alex Austerberry next season. But for now she is Saracens’ player and at the epicentre of their first PWR title in four years.