Defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury secured a home Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) semi-final and top spot in the regular season table as Bristol Bears claimed the last remaining play-off spot.
Results on Friday and earlier on Saturday meant Gloucester-Hartpury knew a bonus-point victory at Sale Sharks would tie up first place, and they duly ran out 41-24 winners at CorpAcq Stadium.
Sean Lynn’s three-peat chasers will play West Country rivals Bristol in the semi-finals at Kingsholm on March 2 after the Bears beat Harlequins 19-10 on Friday night and Exeter Chiefs suffered a 21-12 defeat – their sixth in seven matches – at Saracens the following day.
On a decisive weekend, Saracens’ win took them above Quins and into second place, firmly in the driver’s seat for a home semi-final with one round of the regular season to go.
It means Saracens are guaranteed to meet their London rivals in the opening semi-final on March 1, with the identity of the hosts to be determined by results this Friday night.
Saracens Womens
Exeter Chiefs Womens
Alex Austerberry’s side welcome Sale to StoneX Stadium in round 18, while Quins face a daunting trip to regular season champions Gloucester-Hartpury.
Mia Venner starred for the Circus at Sale, running in three of her side’s seven tries as they eased to victory against the league’s basement club.
As well as securing top spot for the visitors, the result means that Sharks will end the regular season bottom of the PWR table.
Sale Sharks Womens
Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC
That is because Leicester Tigers withstood a late Trailfinders Women fightback to record only their third victory of the season in Saturday’s opening match, edging a barnstorming contest 45-43 in Ealing.
Leicester built a commanding 45-22 lead early in the second half, as Scotland winger Fran McGhie completed her hat-trick with less than half an hour to play.
Hosts Trailfinders scored three converted tries in the final 10 minutes, through Lisa Thomson, Julia Schell and Rosie Inman, but it was too little, too late to secure a memorable comeback.
Trailfinders Womens
Leicester Tigers Womens
A rollercoaster penultimate round began in fine style under the Twickenham Stoop lights on Friday night as Bristol got the win they needed to crash the top four.
England star Ellie Kildunne scored tries either side of half time to keep title-chasing Quins in the hunt in front of a club record 6,780 crowd.
But Bristol, who led 12-5 at the break thanks to tries from Phoebe Murray and Alisha Butchers-Joyce, sealed victory when Sarah Bern went over midway through the second half.
Harlequins Womens
Bristol Bears Womens
That result meant Exeter needed to win at StoneX Stadium on Saturday to maintain their own play-off hopes into the final round.
However, despite taking an early lead through Nancy McGillivray, first-half tries from Sophie Bridger, May Campbell and Poppy Cleall condemned Chiefs to defeat.
Claudia MacDonald’s second-half try proved nothing more than consolation for Exeter, who miss out on the semi-finals despite starting the season with eight straight victories.
