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What to watch in women’s rugby: Title rivals go head to head
The hunt for honours in both Premiership Women’s Rugby and the Celtic Challenge will become clearer by the end of this weekend.
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Bristol Bears know they must beat fourth-placed Exeter Chiefs in their rearranged PWR fixture at Ashton Gate to maintain their hopes of reaching the end of season play-offs.
Meanwhile, Celtic Challenge leaders Wolfhounds put their title defence on the line against second placed Gwalia Lightning in Cork.
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Bears, Chiefs vie for top four
Bristol head coach Dave Ward has labelled his side’s West Country Derby against Exeter their most important match of the season.
With only two regular season matches left for last season’s runners-up, Bears find themselves outside the top four and the all-important semi-final spots.
Back-to-back defeats to Trailfinders Women and Loughborough Lightning have left Bristol trailing fourth-placed Exeter, who have a game in hand, by two points ahead of the Chiefs’ visit to Ashton Gate on Sunday.
A third successive defeat would leave the hosts’ title hopes in tatters, but they will be buoyed by the Chiefs’ own stuttering form and the fact they beat them in Exeter only four weeks ago.
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“This is it now for us,” Ward said this week. “[For] Bristol fans, this is the last time they’ll get a chance to see us at home for a long, long time because of the way the season is structured.
“We want as many people as we can down there. We want them to go away happy as well and like I said, the next time they’re at Ashton Gate watching a game of women’s rugby will hopefully be one of the World Cup quarter-finals or semi-finals.
“So, that’s exciting in itself but we want to make sure that those memories last through the summer and we’ve got a huge opportunity in the biggest game of the season so far in terms of where people are going to end up.
“And we’re going to give it our absolute all.”
Sunday’s rescheduled match was originally planned for round nine, but the fixture was postponed due to the impact of Storm Darragh at the beginning of December.
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Round nine fell at the end of the week in which Ilona Maher signed her short-term deal with the Bears and this weekend’s derby now represents her final home assignment in Bristol blue.
“She’s a model professional in terms of rugby comes first. She’s here before most of the other pros in terms of her timings and what she gets done, I couldn’t have really asked for anything more rugby wise,” Ward said.
Find out if the Olympian can help keep Bristol’s semi-final hopes on track live and for free via RugbyPass TV this Saturday, except in Canada, USA, the UK and Ireland.
Saturday, February 8
12:15 GMT – Bristol Bears v Exeter Chiefs, Ashton Gate – WATCH LIVE HERE
Celtic Challenge title rivals meet in Cork
As the race for the Celtic Challenge heats up, the top two meet in Cork on Sunday in a match that could go some way to deciding the destination of the title.
Defending champions Wolfhounds lead the standings by a point from Gwalia Lightning ahead of the Welsh side’s visit to Virgin Media Park.
Wolfhounds suffered their first ever Celtic Challenge defeat in round two, losing 31-10 to compatriots Clovers, but have rebounded well to lead the pack with four games to play.
Glasgow Warriors and Brython Thunder have each been beaten home and away since that loss, but Gwalia Lightning will represent a step up.
Lightning have also lost only one of their six matches so far and head into this weekend on a run of three successive victories, including back-to-back wins against last season’s runners-up, Edinburgh Rugby.
Sian Jones, Bryonie King, Caitlan Lewis and Courtney Greenway all scored tries in Lightning’s 26-5 defeat of Edinburgh last weekend, but they will be playing a side packed full of internationals in Cork.
Eve Higgins scored a hat-trick as Wolfhounds beat Glasgow 64-21 in round six and she is supported by the likes of Aoife Wafer, Erin King and Stacey Flood in a star-studded squad.
Find out if Wolfhounds can edge closer to a second successive title or whether Lightning spring a surprise in Cork live and for free on RugbyPass TV.
Sunday, February 9
12:30 GMT – Wolfhounds v Gwalia Lightning, Virgin Media Park – WATCH LIVE NOW
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