Premiership Women’s Rugby made its long awaited return this past weekend, with four all action fixtures taking centre stage. Back-to-back defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury kicked off their campaign with a win against Leicester Tigers, with Saracens and Exeter Chiefs also starting off their seasons with a victory
One Red Roses legend who was certainly excited to see the return of the PWR was Katy Daley-McLean, and the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup winner gave her thoughts on each club. In a game of word association, Ruck challenged Daley-McLean to give us a short sharp sentence, on a Red Roses star from each of the nine Premiership Women’s Rugby clubs. equipped with some quick one-liners for her beloved former teammates.
Bristol Bears – Hannah Botterman: “Great ball carrier, that’s fairly crazy.”
Exeter Chiefs – Maddie Feaunati: “Young, bags of potential”.
Trailfinders – Abby Dow: “Really, really, really, really, fast.”
Saracens – Marlie Packer: “Getting older. Needs to retire!”
Sale Sharks – Morwenna Talling: “One of the best players in the world at the moment.”
Loughborough Lightning – Emily Scarratt: “Definitely needs to retire. But what a legend.”
Gloucester-Hartpury – Zoe Aldcroft: “One of the nicest humans you’ll ever meet.”
Leicester Tigers – Meg Jones: “Crazy. Hell of a baller!”
Harlequins – Ellie Kildunne: “One of the most naturally gifted players we’ve seen.”
After the quick-fire round of word association, Daley-McLean turned her attention to the new PWR season, and how more games than ever before are set to be broadcasted on TNT. There will be a PWR match aired live on the channel every weekend, so in all a quarter of all matches will be available to watch on TV Broadcast. The league continues to grow, with players from all over the world gravitating towards the PWR.
“I think it’s great. I think people have mixed views on it about whether you should have a load of foreign players playing in the league, or whether we should just be around cultivating Red Roses. For me, I think if what you want is to be the best league in the world, you need the best players. I think that’s what the PWR really is starting to deliver.
“You know, the level of competition across the board, the opportunity to be live on channels like TNT, really shows a statement of intent for me, in a massive step change from just being help rugby (grow) to really, making a claim on being one of the best leagues in the world.”
“The fact it’s a game every weekend, it’s given everybody the opportunity to showcase their talent and how they’re playing. It’s just great for the women’s game, definitely.”
Daley-McLean then cast her attention to the back-to-back league champions, as Gloucester-Hartpury are embarking on an unprecedented ‘three-peat’ of title triumphs. The Circus got off to winning ways this past weekend with their impressive 57-29 hammering of Leicester Tigers, all without their star studded international talents. When asked if Gloucester-Hartpury have what it takes for a third league title in a row, McLean said;
“I wouldn’t bet against them. I think the squad that Sean Lynn has assembled is pretty impressive. The way you he just drops players in, the same I’d be great to see how Ellie Green goes after her moved from Trailfinders, in potentially a more dominant pack. How does that change the way that she’s going to play? But I think Gloucester will be in the mix. When Mo Hunt and Zoe Aldcroft come back, they’re the heartbeat of that group.”
Whilst the final standings of the regular PWR season won’t be confirmed until next February, McLean dusted off the crystal ball to pick who in her eyes will make the top four ahead of the play-offs.
“You’ve got Sarries (Saracens) that have been knocked down in two semis, they will definitely not want to have that happen for a third time. I think Bristol will be in that mix. And then it’ll be interesting to see how the likes of Exeter and Harlequins go as well, and maybe Loughborough. Gloucester, Sarries, Bristol, Exeter, that’s one to four.”
One club who have had to re-write the play book in recent weeks are the Trailfinders, as the Ealing based side witnessed the unexpected exit of Giselle Mather ahead of the new season. Mathers has been publicly accredited for bringing in some top names to the Trailfinders, as the Londoners embarked on their first season in the women’s game.
The likes of England wing Abby Dow voiced how Mather was critical in her arrival from Harlequins, with Mather now taking up a role as new head coach of the Great Britain Women’s Sevens team.
“I’m sure that the group have done a really good job of trying to make sure, that that impact is felt less by the players. Giselle is a huge loss. I know Giselle very well, she’s an extremely good coach and a great person. Very good at driving culture and expectations. No doubt she will be a loss, but I’m sure the guys at Trailfinders are ensuring that they make sure the team are best prepared as possible.”
Last season, the PWR witnessed the break-out of Maddie Feaunati, as the Exeter Chiefs back row had a barnstorming season, that culminated in an England call-up and subsequent debut in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations. Also, the likes of Bristol midfielder Phoebe Murray and Gloucester-Hartpury back-row Georgia Brock have recently made their first Test caps for England, with McLean name-checking a few hidden gems that could soon be set for a call-up.
“It’s going to be great to see them. Obviously, we’ve got Lizzie Duffy up at sale. Had a really nasty ankle injury last year, so she didn’t play a lot. So it would be great to see her. But she was kind of on that England pathway as well. So it would be good for her.
“I think Daisy Hibbert-Jones again, players who are just sitting on the cusp of not necessarily getting into England regularly. I think in a World Cup year, everything’s very different. I think what you’ll want to see, is those are in that squad really turning up and playing regularly and putting out good performances, because that’s what they’ll be judged on, building into 2025.”
The excitement of the PWR is only continuing to grow, with next year’s 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup creeping in ever closer. The stars of the PWR will return to their nations and battle it out for glory, and McLean believes that now is the perfect time for rugby fans to get invested and follow the action of the women’s game.
“That’s the brilliant thing about the PWR League, isn’t it? I think the level of competition across the board, where all the internationals come back will be huge, because everybody will be doing the same, whether you’re from England, whether you’re in Wales, Italy, South Africa, USA, Canada, there’s such a mixed plane in PWR. All of those girls will want to go for the World Cup. So I think we will see another increase in standard of the PWR this year.”
TNT Sports is the home of Premiership Women’s Rugby, with live coverage of over 20 matches during the 2024/25 season. Find out more by visiting the discovery+ website.
