Fans of English rugby were treated to some outstanding play at Twickenham Stadium on 8 June as Northampton Saints saw off the challenge of Bath and ended their long wait to lift the English Premiership trophy again.
Two weeks on from that spectacle, it was the turn of the women to demonstrate what they are capable of, with the 2023/2024 Premiership Women’s Rugby final taking place at Sandy Park on Saturday afternoon and seeing final debutants Bristol Bears Women lock horns with defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury in a bid to to end the campaign at the top of the tree.
Whilst both sides had moments when they were on top, it was overall quality and experience that won out in the end, with Bristol starting out the better but Gloucester growing into the game and adapting to what was in front of them, and this tactical analysis will look at what they changed as the match went on and why Bristol deserve an enormous amount of credit for the way that they continually challenged them.
Lineups
Gloucester-Hartpury named an unchanged side from the one that saw off Exeter Chiefs Women in the semi-finals two weeks ago, with head coach Sean Lynn looking for continuity and having no desire to disrupt the rhythm that had been built up on the road to the final. Sarah Beckett therefore continued at lock, despite being predominantly a back rower for club and for country, whilst two other England players in forward Zoe Aldcroft, who was named at Number 8, and scrum-half Natasha “Mo” Hunt were named as co-captains for the game.
Bristol Bears Women, on the flip side, made three alterations to their starting XV, with head coach Dave Ward taking advantage of tighthead Sarah Bern’s return from injury to start her alongside fellow England internationals Hannah Botterman (who moved across from tighthead to loosehead) and Lark Atkin-Davies in the front row, with Simi Pam dropping to the bench. She was joined there by Ella Lovibond, who was replaced by versatile Scotland back Meryl Smith at full-back, whilst the recent injury suffered by winger Deborah Wills meant that Wales’ Courtney Keight also came into the side. Lock Abbie Ward and fly-half Amber Reed were named as co-captains.
Bristol Bears Women’s game plan
Whilst it was clear to everyone who watched the match on Saturday afternoon that Gloucester-Hartpury were the stronger side overall, Bristol Bears Women deserve a lot of credit for the way that they turned up and performed. From the outset, it was apparent that they had a clear game plan that every player had bought into and that certainly allowed them to make the better start to proceedings.
In short, their tactics were based around the principle that breaking through Gloucester centrally would be a difficult task to accomplish and so the best policy for them to employ would be to attack down the wings instead, and that led to plenty of situations when they shifted the ball towards the wide areas in a rapid fashion in a bid to access those spaces before Gloucester had had a chance to get numbers across and to block their routes.
In the first few phases of the game, it led to Bristol playing with confidence and composure and constantly testing Gloucester’s defensive resolve, with winger Reneeqa Bonner being a notable thorn in the defending champions’ side and offering a threat whenever she had a gap ahead of her to attack into.
However, the key detail to look at in these phases was not the passing towards the wing but what happened once they had accessed those spaces, with the Bears not often hanging around and instead either drifting back infield or passing the ball into the half-spaces just inside the wings. As a result, a lot of what they did resembled an “outside-in” strategy, and, whilst this chance didn’t lead to anything, it was clear as the match grew that the Cherry and Whites were finding it hard to contain their opponents.
As the game went on, the effectiveness of this slightly wore off and Bristol needed to adapt their overall mindset to be more defensive, but that didn’t mean that they got rid of this attacking tactic altogether and instead they revisited it as the final neared its end.
Their fourth and final try resulted from this ability to once again get on the front foot and to hurt Gloucester where there was clearly an issue in their play, with outside centre Phoebe Murray carrying the ball forward here and dragging both opposite number Hannah Jones and winger Mia Venner towards her, and that then opened up space for substitute Jenny Hesketh to run into and to set up Lovibond to go over the line.
As with the earlier situation, Gloucester were not completely defenceless in these moments and flanker Georgia Brock did make a really good effort to get across the field and to try and execute a last-ditch tackle on Lovibond. However, the distance was just too great for her to make up and that resulted in Bristol securing the try and ensuring that the match was kept interesting for the final periods of play, as well as underlining why they are never a team to underestimate.
However, despite this positivity, there is no getting away from the fact that the Bears did end up on the wrong end of the scoreline and some attention does need to be given to what let them down. In truth, it was Gloucester’s tactical improvements that led to them taking control of proceedings, but Bristol certainly contributed to their defeat, with them at times making it too easy for their opponents to control certain situations.
This was one of those moments that they will look back on and know that they could have done better in, with the ball in their possession at this point and Keight presenting it behind her for a teammate to recycle. At this stage, Bristol needed to act quickly due to Gloucester being in a position to counterruck if they didn’t, and yet Wales flanker Alisha Joyce-Butchers opted not to be an emergency scrum-half here and instead decided to latch onto the back of the ruck to try and give her team more distance to make a successful clearance.
In any other situation, that would not be a bad thing to do, but the issues here were that no-one else came to get their hands on the ball and that the influential Beckett was poised and ready to push Bristol backwards as soon as the opportunity presented itself. At this stage, she and her teammates decided that the Bears had had enough time to act and Gloucester ended up winning what was quite an easy turnover, and Bristol will know that they could have averted it had they made the right decision initially and had they rushed reinforcements in to secure the ball.
Gloucester-Hartpury’s issues
To simply focus on where Bristol Bears Women went wrong would be a major injustice to the efforts of Gloucester-Hartpury when it came to turning the match around and ending it with the win, and there was no doubting when watching them that they reacted well to the initial problems that they came across and showed why they are such a tough team to throw off.
Before going into what they altered, it is important to first gain a picture of the issues that they needed to negotiate, and one thing that really haunted them was a lack of discipline whenever they were looking to regain the ball.
This was one of those situations when it cost them a chance to launch a counterattack and to relieve the pressure that they were under, with Beckett, who was deservedly named Player of the Match, making a dominant tackle on back rower Rownita Marston-Mulhearn but then seeing it come to nothing due to Gloucester as a collective going off their feet whilst trying to prevent Bristol from stealing it back.
When looking at the number of penalties that they racked up during the first half for trivial offences like this, it is no surprise that they did go in behind, and it was clear that they would need to have a cleaner second period if they were to have any chance of turning the match around in their favour.
The other thing that was noticeably missing from their performance was an awareness of their surroundings when moving the ball around the field, with there being several instances when they opted to keep the ball and to carry it into contact and when a pass would have been the better choice.
This was one of those moments, with Wales fly-half Lleucu George in possession and having teammates outside her looking for the ball to come to them. Winger Pip Hendy has been especially clear about what she wants to happen through her raising her arms to try and catch George’s attention, but the standoff ignores them and instead takes the ball in a diagonal motion back towards where it had come from. Her intention was to try and catch Bristol out and to perhaps take advantage of a space that might open up, but it didn’t here and instead she was tackled well by Pam and Gloucester saw their momentum evaporate.
With this being one of many times when individual Gloucester players made the wrong decision, it was clear that this inhibited their ability to get points on the board earlier than they did, and the fact that they were making these misjudgements against a Bristol side who have become known for their defensive solidity means that it was another reason that they struggled for much of the encounter.
Gloucester-Hartpury’s attacking threat
However, as has been highlighted throughout the analysis, Gloucester-Hartpury did adapt and changed their tactics as the match went on, and it was that that allowed them to remain on the top step.
In the first half, Gloucester’s tactics had unsurprisingly been based around making quick passes and trying to suck defenders towards the ball, with them having so many strong carriers in their side and therefore generally having no issue fashioning and then exploiting gaps that do appear.
It was something that proved to be effective against Bristol too, and it highlighted how they were a threat when they did pass the ball instead of retaining it in tight spaces, with this situation showing Beckett attracting Reed towards her and taking her out of the game before sending Wales flanker Bethan Lewis through with a well-timed offload.
Had Beckett kept hold of the ball, Reed would have been able to hold her position and Lewis might not have had as much space, if any, to run through. However, because Beckett recognised the opportunity, Lewis had time to run through and Bristol were unable to stop her, with her Wales teammate Keira Bevan unable to move across in time, and that then eventually led to Hunt scoring Gloucester’s first try of the match.
The fact that they were having so many problems whilst trying to break through the Bears’ rearguard though meant that they needed to find another way of accessing the spaces behind it, and that came in the shape of box kicks from George into spaces closer to the wings.
However, what made this really effective was the chase up the field from those outside the fly-half, with this situation seeing George send the ball towards the left hand side of the field and Bonner then be closed down at speed by the aforementioned Jones, who ensured that Bristol couldn’t clear their lines with any degree of simplicity and instead Gloucester were able to win penalties in promising areas of the field.
Therefore, by bypassing Bristol’s defensive line and by forcing them onto the back foot, Gloucester were able to play in a much more threatening manner, and there is no doubting that this strategic alteration was instrumental in them sealing the win.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this tactical analysis has looked at the 2023/2024 Premiership Women’s Rugby final, highlighting the reasons that Gloucester-Hartpury won a second successive league title and that Bristol Bears Women ultimately fell short.
As the analysis has indicated, Bristol can go away from this match with their heads held high, because, whilst they might have lost out in the end, there was a lot that they did well and they did what many others have failed to do and made Gloucester sweat.
However, Gloucester adapted and that is why they are champions again, with them providing a clear indication of their quality and securing a win that was deserved on the balance of play but that was certainly not easy to attain. They can play better than they did at the weekend, but finals are about turning up and getting the job done and they did just that. Overcoming them remains the biggest challenge in the English women’s game.