‘This league has stepped up’: tension at top of Premiership Women’s Rugby

The PWR returns with Gloucester-Hartpury on an epic winning run and a tight battle for the semi-final spots

Gloucester-Hartpury will take to the pitch this weekend when the league returns from a six-week break looking to sustain an enviable record in Premiership Women’s Rugby. The West Country team are unbeaten since a defeat by local rivals Bristol Bears in November 2024 and have since won 18 PWR games on the bounce, including their third successive final.

If Gloucester manage to beat Loughborough at Kingsholm on Sunday they will leapfrog Saracens, who sit top of the table despite losing to the champions this season, and who have a bye this weekend. The top two are 12 points clear of the rest of the league and the clubs who finish in either of those spots host their semi-final. So does being top even matter if second gets you the same result? Saracens second row Georgia Evans believes so: “We want to be top all of the time. This league has stepped up, you’ve seen how competitive and close some of the games are. Top of the table means a lot.” Continue reading...