The Premier 15s reshuffle: Which teams are flying high and which are struggling?
The start of the 2021/22 season in the Premier 15s has seen the biggest shake up perhaps the league has ever seen. Bristol are on top, reigning champions Harlequins are half way down in 5th, international talent filled Loughborough Lightning sit in 8th- you’d need to be a brave to predict play-off contenders for this season!
As the competition pauses for the Autumn International break, we look back on some notable achievements and highlights from the past five rounds.
As the league takes a break until 27th November, it is Bristol Bears who sit pretty at the top of the table with five wins from five, and five try bonus points secured. The West Country side have been the most entertaining to watch so far and sit just above Saracens with their superior points difference.
Bristol’s last match before the break saw them convincingly beat reigning champions Harlequins 24-5 away from home at The Stoop. Jasmine Joyce continued her electric try scoring exploits from the sevens circuit with a brilliant score and Sarah Bern showcased another of her rampaging runs to create another.
Props setting up tries and scoring them, you love to see it! 😍
📽️ @Premier15s pic.twitter.com/vsHSjTpYU5
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) October 14, 2021
To put this excellent winning run into perspective, Bristol finished eighth in the league last season and weren’t able to string two consecutive wins together throughout the 2020/21 season. A remarkable improvement- could the two Ward’s arrival at the club: second row Abbie and new Head Coach Dave, be the spark behind the fire?
Saracens continue their dominance at the top of the table, a position they have made themselves comfortable in over the past four seasons, with last season’s finalists also five from five. They face Bristol in round 7 which should be one humdinger of a match up.
An outstanding achievement was also made in round 5 when Sonia Green became the first known woman to play 300 times for the club in the league- club legend is an understatement.
What a moment 🙌🏻
3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ not out for @supasonic7 🐐#StrongerTogether ⚫️🔴 pic.twitter.com/apyiiAajI5
— Saracens Women (@SaracensWomen) October 10, 2021
Down the table and Wasps, Exeter and Harlequins fill up the remaining top half of the spots with supporters and players alike unaccustomed to seeing Quins out of the top two in the early stages of the season.
One could question whether the hole left by former Forwards Coach Karen Findlay has been too big to fill? And whether losing club stalwarts Abbie Ward and Leanne Riley to Bristol have also be contributing factors?
Despite Exeter’s recent loss to Saracens, the Devon-based side seem hell-bent on ruffling feathers when it comes to the strongest sides, having beaten all teams in the top four of the table last season and continuing that trend to take the scalps of Harlequins and Wasps so far this campaign.
With Harlequins not reeling in their usual dominant performances and results this season, the same eyebrows have been raised on behalf of Loughborough Lightning. The East Midlands side has always finished in the top five in the Premier 15s era, finishing as high as third in the 2018/19 season, so what has not clicked this time round to see them loitering in eighth with one win from five?
Granted, they were unlucky to lose world class centre Emily Scarratt to a broken leg three minutes into the season and there has been player movement away from the club, but with the return of forwards Cath O’Donnell and Rachel Malcolm from injury, plus the inclusion of international players Lark Davies, Sarah Hunter, Detysha Harper, Jenny Maxwell, Megan Gaffney and Helena Rowland, you have to ask what could be going so wrong to see the club’s worst start to the season since the Premier 15s began?
In sixth and seventh sit Gloucester-Hartpury and Worcester Warriors respectively, who have both carved out hard fought wins and been the wrong side of some close results in the first five rounds. It’ll be interesting to see whether these sides push further up the table or falters in the remaining rounds.
Finally, we cannot ignore the bottom team DMP Durham Sharks who appear to be in trouble. The only side to not have recorded a win and with a points difference of -359, one hopes the rest of the season sees them bouncing back to be competitive in the league.
Here's how the Allianz #Premier15s table looks after five rounds 📈 pic.twitter.com/G4uTvNnZ8G
— Premiership Women's Rugby (@ThePWR) October 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
1 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
3 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
3 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
2 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to commentsTruely great player. In social media and opinion pieces he was held up and flogged for the results. People wanted someone to crucify, and he was the captain. He was still an immense presence respected by his peers. His battles with Siya Kolisi belong up with with Collins vs Burger in my opinion. Unlucky to be carded in the final, but I don’t agree that his red card was the defining moment. Not when you look at the dominant performances of the Springboks (PSDT in particular.) I think Cane should be remembered for the spirit and physicality that is special to test rugby.
16 Go to commentsSam was the man until he got injured .
16 Go to comments_Crusaders versus Leinster _at the moment might be a rout! But I would like to see the Blues play Toulouse, the Hurricanes front up against Stade Francais, and the Chiefs go against Toulon.
157 Go to commentsLove it when we overlap! Promise it was not forethought.
19 Go to commentsjfc can this guy plz stay out of the news for one week
2 Go to commentsIf stormers aren’t available. Based on form and likely availability at the time of the wales Test, you’d think Masuku would be a no-brainer to start. But starting Jordan also makes sense having Masuku come off the bench to close out the game.
2 Go to commentsGlad Tom Curry not playing needs time to recover such a great player also his brother Ben how well is he playing now .
1 Go to commentsLet’s examine what might be irking the brainless E: Up until 20 years before this coming Julys tests: 16 games: 14 wins for SA; 1 win for Ire; 1 draw From 20 years until July’ tests Ireland V SA: 13 matches Ireland won 8; SA won 4; 1 draw Points scored Ireland 261; SA 189 Ave Winning Margin: Ireland 11 points; SA 4 points (away 3, home 6) Away win record: Ireland 33.33%; SA 25% Neutral matches 1: Ireland win RWC France 2023. Last SA win June 2016 (8 years ago) They boast 3 World cups in that period (they do boast). The above record is not good, probably not much better than theirs against NZ for same period. That’s why the dopey E is starting fights in his head. He will probably ship a yellow when things don’t go their way in the first test.
127 Go to commentsGoode is like a wet fart on The Rugby Pod and should be shoved aside. Jim knows what he is on about and can get on better without Goode’s nasty little cheap shots.
127 Go to commentsBrumbies will win, crusaders are pretty awful this year
1 Go to comments