By Ben Thorne
Bristol Bears Women head coach, Dave Ward, and co-captain Abbie Ward believe that they can defeat their West Country rivals, to win the Premiership Women’s Rugby title. Gloucester-Hartpury will be the Bears competition, at Sandy Park on Saturday, June 22 (3pm kick off) for the final, which will be live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+.
Off the back of a 29-21 semi-final victory over Saracens, Bristol come into the game with considerable momentum, having won their last seven consecutive games.
However, Gloucester-Hartpury have also enjoyed a dominant campaign, losing only once all season and come into the final after thrashing last year’s finalists, Exeter Chiefs, 50-19.
Abbie Ward said: “it’s the final so whoever the best team on the day is will win the game.
“Gloucester have been really dominant over the last few years; they are so clinical but for us the focus has got to be on ourselves.
“This season we have seen a huge amount of growth, how the team have gelled with new players coming in has been brilliant but the rest of the season now doesn’t count for much, it’s about how you perform in the big knockout games.”
By defeating Saracens at the StoneX Stadium in the previous round, Bristol Bears Women became the first team to win an away semi-final, since the competition began in 2017.
Additionally, by making the final Dave Ward’s side become the first Bristol Bear team (male or female) to get to a Premiership final.
Abbie Ward said: “it was amazing to win especially with the odds against us, however we’ve been very vocal about not wanting that to be our final.
“We didn’t want that to be the game where we spent all of our energy and played our final a couple of weeks too early.
“It meant a lot to the girls to beat Saracens but ultimately the final will mean a lot more.”
England international hooker, Lark Atkin-Davies, scored a hat-trick last time out in what was her first full game back after an ankle injury sustained in April.
A brilliant performance from the Bristol pack helped Atkin-Davies on her way as she scored two tries from the back of the Bears driving maul.
Reflecting on Atkin-Davies’ performance, former Harlequins hooker, Dave Ward said: “every team needs someone like her; you don’t realise the impact that she has on the team until she isn’t playing.
“We are really happy that she is back and we cannot wait to see her run out at Sandy Park in the final.”
Despite the dominance that the Bristol Bears forwards have, Abbie Ward remained adamant that the tries that her side score come in a variety of different ways.
Against Saracens, the other two tries that the Bears scored (one by Atkin-Davies and the other by Reneeqa Bonner) were both scored out on the wings.
Abbie Ward said: “if we need to, we can maul through a team but we’ve also got an electric edge that we can utilise whenever we want as well.”
In the previous two meetings this season between Bristol Bears Women and Gloucester-Hartpury, the Cherry and Whites have come out on top twice.
In December, Gloucester won 12-0 in freezing conditions and backed it up in February, coming from behind to win 24-19, with a last gasp Nel Metcalfe score taking the spoils.
After reviewing his sides recent games against Saturday’s opponents, Dave Ward said: “Gloucester are a team who never give up so we need to make sure we take our points when they are on offer.
“Hopefully we can take more points than them and lift the trophy”.
Watch the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby Final live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ from 2pm on Sat. 22 June.
#PWRFinal | @tntsports 1 | 22.06.24