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PWR round two preview: A London derby and huge clash at Sandy Park
By Lucy Lomax
This weekend sees round 2 of Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) hit our screens and there is plenty to look forward to.
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The weekend starts off with a bang when Exeter Chiefs take on Gloucester-Hartpury live on BBC iPlayer with both sides coming off the back of impressive wins on the opening weekend and both hosting large numbers of internationals fresh off the back of the 2025 Rugby World Cup.
Chiefs will host the reigning champions at Sandy Park and will need to be wary as the Circus appear to have picked up where they left off last season despite a change in head coach. The Cherry and Whites had a 100% success rate in their scrum last time out and scored six tries so Chiefs will need to be on guard both at set piece and in defence.
Last time these two sides met was almost a year ago with Gloucester-Hartpury emerging 41-12 victors.
Look out for Zoe Stratford née Aldcroft who won player of the match in round 1 and many of the other England internationals Gloucester have in their ranks including those who crossed the white wash last weekend; Jade Shekells, Tatyana Heard and Maud Muir, as well as Wales and Ireland forwards Kelsey Jones and Sam Monaghan.
Exeter have a team sheet worth shouting about too with legendary USA prop Hope Rogers leading their scrum alongside World Cup finalist DaLeaka Menin and ever improving Red Rose Maddie Feaunati at number eight.
The following day, Sunday, offers us the three remaining matches of the round with Bristol Bears kicking off their campaign against Leicester Tigers at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. The Bears were semi-finalists last time out but fell to eventual winners Gloucester-Hartpury.
They’ll be looking to kick their season off with a big win against the Tigers who struggled last season finishing eighth out of nine teams. Bristol are another team with a change of head coach after Dave Ward departed the club, with former Scotland international Scott Lawson taking up the vacant role.
Bristol have a raft of internationals including four world champions- Abbie Ward, Hannah Botterman, Sarah Bern and Lark Atkin-Davies, as well as Scotland players including Evie Gallagher, Lana Skeldon and Emma Orr.
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The third match of the weekend sees Loughborough Lightning host Sale Sharks. The Sharks come in off the back of a win last time out and will be hoping to keep momentum on their side. Lightning were in impressive attacking form at The Stoop last Friday night and came out on top of the stats in many categories including: carries, metres made and defenders beaten, scoring six tries.
Player of the match of the World Cup final Sadia Kabeya was in electric form with ball in hand and will be looking to continue her wrecking ball running.
The weekend then ends with a bang as Saracens host Harlequins in the London derby at StoneX Stadium, live on TNT Sports. The last time these two sides met was in the semi-finals where Saracens knocked Harlequins out of the running for the 2024/25 title.
It is no secret there is no love lost between these two teams and with Saracens hurting off the back of a thumping by Gloucester-Hartpury last weekend, and with home support, Harlequins will need to be on form to come away with four or more points from their trip to the north of the capital.
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Saracens were unimpressive in defeat last weekend despite having the likes of world player of the year Sophie de Goede, and World Cup winners Rosie Galligan, Kelsey Clifford, Marlie Packer, Jess Breach, Zoe Harrison and May Campbell playing minutes on the field.
Expect a bounce back from the north Londoners.
Harlequins conceded six tries last weekend but scored eight (level with Sale Sharks), with Saracens only crossing twice. Saracens will be well aware of the threats Spain centre Claudia Pena and England full back Ellie Kildunne bring to the park, as well as the fast distribution skills of fellow World Cup winning Red Rose Lucy Packer.
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