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Atkin-Davies on pregnancy: Telling England coaches and taking inspiration from teammate Ward
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Why the PWR this February is going to be box-office
February is awards season. It’s Super Bowl time. It’s 25 run-of-the-mill days, and a trio dedicated to – respectively – Groundhogs, Charles Darwin, and Saint Valentine.
February is a mass of contradictions. Seasonally – it’s the first glimpse of spring after a long, cold winter: daffodils and baby bunnies. Aesthetically – it’s either love hearts and flowers, or the very mocking of such saccharine trite. In rugby terms – it’s the sensation of rounding the final bend of an athletics track, as things get real serious – real fast. The finish line roars into view, as lactic sinks tendrils into your legs, and all you have to close things out is adrenaline-laced stubbornness.
Each and every one of those resonates, when you look at Rounds 9-12 of Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR). The drama and spectacle. The age-old rivalries we know and love. The passion and excitement, the sense of urgency and escalation, and – above all – the absolute, scientific certainty that only the very fittest will survive.
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We’ve had five weeks off – a respite richly deserved by those heroines who stuffed World Cup-battered bodies into club colours less than a month after the Red Roses were crowned champions at HQ. Hopefully – hearts are full, minds have been allowed to putter along in second gear, and this league’s stars feel a little more human as we head into 2026. Rounds 1-8 were scintillating – but they were also a Herculean feat of endurance.
What did we glean? Bears are in trouble, Saracens are basically Canada, The Circus haven’t changed a thing and it’s working, Trailfinders’ ceiling is astronomical, and Exeter have learned how to offload.
This is when it gets properly good, though. Combinations are gelling, the Black Ferns are still with us, and the fixture gods are sprinkling down pearlers from their couches on high. Three points separate third and sixth, and the top two are well aware that this whole shebang could come down to points difference – so they better start turning screws.
Grab your diaries and a pen, please.
PWR
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Saracens Women
8
7
1
0
35
2
Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC
7
7
0
0
35
3
Harlequins Women
7
4
3
0
23
4
Exeter Chiefs Women
7
3
2
2
22
5
Loughborough Lightning
7
3
2
2
21
6
Trailfinders Women
7
3
3
1
20
7
Sale Sharks Women
7
1
5
1
12
8
Bristol Bears Women
7
1
6
0
5
9
Leicester Tigers Women
7
0
7
0
1
On the penultimate day of January – Trailfinders host Quins in an affair which could prove seismic, when it comes to qualification. Ross Chisholm’s women are home, and have won their last three – but those were against the trio at the base of the standings – whilst Barney Maddison’s all-stars are devilishly close to clicking – and travel brilliantly: having spent their December coming within a point of toppling Queensholm, and drawing a thriller at Franklin’s Gardens. In case you’ve any lingering January blues – stick this one on – and let Claudia Peña versus Meg Jones heal you.
On y va. Then Sunday, Sale Sharks – all teeth and dead eyes – will circle Shaftesbury Park, where there’s copious blood in the water. A win here reaffirms the inarguable progress they’re making under Tom Hudson – and piles yet more pressure on the Bristolians. Holly Aitchison’s return to Bear Country is a delicious subplot, whilst Lightning’s trip to Gloucester should bring the curtain down nicely.
A week later, and Harlequins are centre of attention yet again – as they do all they can to contain calendar girls, Exeter. Clothes might be optional down at Sandy Park, but jouez jouez is obligatory. Oli Bishop has hurled the handbrake clean out the tractor window, and the results are just brilliant. Chiefs’ new expansive, eyes-up attacking philosophy is starting to purr – and they’ll truly believe they can do the double over the Londoners – after a cracker in Round 4. BFFs Ellie Kildunne and Liv McGoverne will have pined for one another over the Christmas break; it’ll be great to see them reunited.
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Round 11. Excited yet? Quins aren’t: this is a bruising block for Konkel and co. – who’re paying the champions a visit. To be fair to them – they pushed GH mightily hard back in November, and will be as battled hardened as they come by this stage…
Elsewhere – the queens of the tie, Chiefs and Loughborough, collide at Sandy Park – as Maisy Allen, Emily Robinson, Daisy Hibbert-Jones, and Haineala Lutui all look to prove to John Mitchell just why *they* deserve to join Sadia Kabeya and Maddie Feaunati in that thorny back row – and you can’t help but wonder if, by this stage, someone’s lost touch with the chasing pack. Quins – Lightning – Chiefs – Trailfinders: all bulging biceps and sharp elbows, trying desperately not to blink.
February 21st brings us Saracens against Exeter, which never fails to deliver: warriors in black, with a generous dollop of maple syrup, and the mischievous twinkle of a possible tunnel skirmish. The month’s action concludes in the Midlands, as Bristol look to exact revenge at the Gardens – before we all take a collective breath. Golly.
We’re going to learn so much: if anyone can lay a glove on the pace-setters, or if all roads lead to that titanic bout in Round 14; if Trailfinders can turn an eye-watering team sheet into a surge through the standings; if Bears are in crisis or merely hibernation; if Sale have an actual, meaty scalp in them; and if Exeter – in winning in London at least once – can truly dream of playoff rugby once more.
All the while – international coaches will be scrutinising proceedings, as they prepare for the first Six Nations and Pacific Fours of this cycle – and we’ll get to savour new signings warming to the task. Aoife Wafer was towering on debut at Big Game, whilst Asia Hogan-Rochester has finally touched down – in a puff of glitter – in Salford.
Liana Mikaele-Tu’u is as exhilarating to watch as she is exhausting, Pamphinette Buisa could tackle a cruise liner into touch, and Britt ‘barnstorming’ Hogan is here: a blue-capped hunk of Dundonald granite on roller skates. Our cups overfloweth.
If your December was a carousel of excess, and your January a case of battening down hatches in three pairs of socks – then let your February feel just right: a sweet spot, punctuated with unmissable clashes from the best domestic competition in the women’s game.
The PWR’s return is right around the corner, and it looks to be sensational.
See you there.
