PWR Round 14 talking points: Gloucester Hartpury win ugly in North London

Sunday lunchtime saw Premiership Women’s Rugby champions Gloucester Hartpury beat Saracens 22-17 in what was billed as the clash of the season so far.

Dan Murphy’s team scored four tries in North London to pick up their 12th bonus point win from 12 matches played and retook top spot in the league with three more rounds to come this season.

Elsewhere in Round 14, Loughborough Lightning rekindled their semi-final hopes with a win over Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs convincingly beat Trailfinders Women and Sale Sharks won their fourth game in a row when they registered a full throttle 62-3 win against Leicester Tigers.

Here are three talking points from Round 14…

Gloucester Hartpury win ugly against Saracens

It was not a game filled with lots of high quality. It possibly did not live up to its all-star billing.

But Gloucester Hartpury’s 22-17 win against Saracens in North London did allow the three-time champions to continue their 100 per cent start to the 2025/26 PWR season.

England back-row Alex Matthews scored a hat-trick at StoneX Stadium in an attritional contest impacted by high winds in Barnet. Hannah Dallavalle was the Circus’ only other try scorer in the contest.

Ahead of Round 13 team captain Zoe Stratford confirmed that the side intended to go unbeaten this season. Winning matches is all that matters for Dan Murphy’s team. It does not really matter how. Getting a 12th bonus point of the season is just an added perk.

Saracens can possibly be grateful to have taken a losing bonus point. All afternoon Alex Austerberry’s side haemorrhaged penalties.

The majority of those penalties came at the scrum has Maud Muir ensured that Kelsey Clifford and Liz Crake endured a miserable afternoon at the set piece. Clifford was sent to the sin bin as penalties stacked up and Marlie Packer sat out the final eight minutes for a deliberate knock on.

Of course, if everything goes the way we suspect, then we can expect Saracens to have a third shot at toppling the Circus this season. But with persistently poor discipline, Saracens’ wait to add a third PWR title to their collection will continue for another year.

Exeter show-off with Trailfinders in town

In their most recent matches, it felt like some of the noise that surrounded Exeter Chiefs in the opening half of the season had died down. Defeats to Saracens and Gloucester Hartpury will do that to any team.

To get a first win since mid-February, Steve Salvin’s team were ruthless. Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald registered a first half hat-trick at Sandy Park. That trio of tries dwarfed Alana Borland’s 12th minute effort.

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The hooker’s hat-trick underlined the physical dominance that Chiefs enjoyed all afternoon. All three of Trailfinders’ tries were nothing more than bumps in the road for the hosts.

In the second half tries from Amy Rule, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and a Maisy Allen brace put the contest beyond any doubt.

Getting back to winning ways, particularly against another team that has top four aims, was just what Exeter needed.

With three matches to play of the regular season [albeit with a Guinness Women’s Six Nations in the middle] Chiefs will play Leicester Tigers, Bristol Bears and Sale Sharks.

Those fixtures will not only allow the side to claim a semi-final place, but to also allow the South West club to build further confidence.

Trailfinders, meanwhile, must get back to winning ways. Since returning from the winter break Barney Maddison’s team have only won one game. That solitary victory, amid the backdrop of losses to Harlequins and Sale, along with a Bristol Bears draw, means that the Londoners must get another win.

This weekend’s opponents are Harlequins on Friday night. As things stand just three points separate the two teams in the table as Ross Chisholm’s team continue to falter.

Westcombe Evans hits top gear in Quins win

It is difficult to know exactly how detrimental this 43-33 defeat to Loughborough Lightning could be for Harlequins at the end of Round 18.

Over the past month the fourth-place side have seen the five-point gap between them and fifth-place shrink from five points to just two.

This time around it was Lightning wing Bo Westcombe Evans at the heart of this blow to their confidence. On Friday night the 23-year-old wing scored a hat-trick and set up Alicia Maude’s try in a Player of the Match showing at cinch Stadium at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

It was a performance that proved the two-cap England international is very close to rediscovering her best form after missing a year’s rugby with an ACL injury.

 

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Ellie Kildunne was rounded in the build-up to the assist and the back also got to showcase her raw speed as Lightning kept defenders guessing with their incisive attacking runs.

Now Nathan Smith’s team are five points adrift of Harlequins in the table. Sale Sharks and Trailfinders are also in hot contention for a knockout rugby spot should Quins’ form continue to drop.

It will not be straightforward for Lightning if they want to keep their faint hopes of playing in a semi-final alive. Next up is a visit from Gloucester Hartpury and then a trip to Trailfinders before the Six Nations break

In their next two matches Harlequins will host Trailfinders – who they beat with the final kick of the game in January – before travelling to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium where they will be hosted by Bristol Bears.

When it comes to Westcombe Evans, the 23-year-old has scored eight tries now this season and John Mitchell is announcing his Guinness Women’s Six Nations squad this Friday. Maybe it is time for a recall.