English Premiership: Round Six Summary

Picture thanks to Rugby Matters. Check out theScrumqueens Facebookpage for Premiership action from the weekend.

Saracens 7 Worcester 56

Worcester showed just why they are top of the league with a ruthlessly clinical 57-7 victory over Saracens.

Worcesters ability to balance pace and power was too much for the North London side, as quick tries from flyer Kat Mechant, Sam Bree and the highly industrial Heather Fisher, got them off to a great start.

However, the first 20 minutes saw the visitors perpetrate a series of uncharacteristic handling errors but Saracens were unable to capitalise as Worcesters tenacity in the tackle kept the home side on the back foot. Worcester were reduced to 14 when Fisher was carded in the opening exchanges but the visitors settled down and Ceri Large opened the scoring on 25 mintues with Megan Goddard taking the extras from a difficult kick. Danielle Waterman then linked well with the creative Sarah Guest two minutes later, Goddard again converting, and the visitors were back in gear. Worcesters backs were now rampant, imposing a pattern of constant pressure and quick handling which resulted in further tries from Merchant(2) and Fisher, giving Worcester a 29-0 halftime lead.

Worcester emptied their bench early in the second half. Former Saracens player Darryl Poole made an immediate impact on her debut, however, it took a little time for the restructured visitors to pick up momentum again, but once settled, tries came from player of the game, Samantha Bree (2), Danielle Waterman, Karen Jones and Laura Keates. Darryl Poole converting one to open her Worcester account.

In the final minutes of the game Worcester were caught relaxing and the hard working Mandy Marchak, the pick of the Saracens players, was rewarded with a deserved try which she also converted

Worcester looked like worthy title contenders as they enter the final stages of the first half of the season.

Richmond 58-10 Thurrock

Thurrocks search for a first Premiership win goes on after a convincing home win for Richmond.

The game started with a fantastic break from Fran Matthews, showing a glimpse of the impressive play that would follow from the Richmond back line. Abi Chamberlain opened the scoring after four minutes with a try, converted by Alice Richardson and Claire Allan followed soon after with her first of the afternoon..

Thurrock hit back strongly with a try fromGaelle Marcassus, who drove over from a lineout but Richmond hit straight back with tries from Matthews after an excellent turnover, and Allan after a break by Richardson, making it 22-5 after 25 minutes.

Rowena Burnfield was then sinbinned for bringing down a maul and Thurrock took advantage to send their centre Katie Fenn over.

Richmond looked briefly subdued before Annabel Sergeant broke through tackles to score on halftime.

The second half turned into a one sided affair. The Richmond back line started to look a real force and Matthews got her second try on 50 minutes with halftime replacement Holly Myers adding another just minutes later. Richardson converted to make it 39-10.

Determined not to let the backs have all the fun, player of the match Ellisha Dee added another 5 points when she powered through the Thurrock defence. 44-10.

Chamberlain added her second try on 66 minutes before Matthews bagged her hat-trick on 70 minutes, both converted by Richardson to wrap up a big win.

Bristol 26 Lichfield 21

A second half fightback from Lichfield just fell short as Bristol, who had ran into a 26-0 lead, did just enough to secure a solid home win.

Bristol completely dominated the opening half with some superb fast passed rugby.

Bristol put the Lichfield defence under a lot of pressure with some strong runs and effective rucking from their forwards - Lichfield by contrast were still back in the changing room, the urgency and direct play from Bristol soon had them 7-0 up with a try from Isabelle-Noel Smith which Amber Reed converted. This was duly followed on the half hour with a try for Sally Tuson with Reed again adding the further the twp points, giving Bristol a 14 0 half time lead.

The second half started like the first half with Bristol immediately on the attack and within three minutes they had scored through a brilliant run from the half way from Tuson eluding a number of Lichfield tackles. Just two minutes later, Bristol attacked again and with tackles missed there was a try for Claire Molloy to give them a 26-0 lead up with 46 minutes on the clock.

Some stern words were said under the posts by the Lichfield players and this seemed to galvanise the team into waking up. They started to play some much better rugby, matching Bristol in the tackles and rucking, and after some neat work from the forwards, space was created and Emily Scarratt was rewarded with a try which she duly converted.

Lichfield then had their best passage of the game in attack and through some strong running and link up play by all fifteen players put the Bristol defence under pressure. A free flowing move was then finished off by Scarratt for her 2ndconverted try.

Both teams then looked to go on the attack, but both defences held strong and created a number of good turnovers. From an excellent counter attack by Lichfield there was an overlap in the Bristol defence and from the quick ruck ball Vicki Jackson scored with Scarratt converting. The score was now 21-26 to Bristol and the tension was mounting for a further try, but Bristol continued to attack and were unlucky to score after a great try saving tackle from Nancy Stone at the end of the game.

Wasps 31 DMP Sharks 5

Wasps looked like they wanted to make up from last weekends loss right from the first whistle, keeping up the momentum throughout this fast paced encounter to outscore Darlington 31-5.

The first try of the match came just six minutes into the first half. Wasps attacked hard through the forwards around the fringes helping to create space out wide and Davina Monterio picked from the base of a ruck to crash over for the try. Sarah McKenna converted to put Wasps 7-0 up.

Darlington however showed they how much of a threat they could be when, from a stolen lineout, Katy McLean moved the ball out wide to put speedy winger Ruth Laybourn in space where she showed a clean pair of heels to run in a try. The conversion was missed to leave Wasps 7-5 in front.

Darlington continued to threaten, through the likes of hard running no 8 Sophie Spence, who had an outstanding game, and the home side needed to pick their game up which they duly did.

McKenna directed play cleverly and made a break of her own in a darting run down the wing to score and convert bringing Wasps 14-5 up. Continuing to dominate play Wasps scored again through Sarah Mitchelson, who cruised through from 30m out, carving around the defence to score te third try and putting Wasps comfortably in the lead 19-5 at half time. The home team were unlucky not to have scored a further try as Natasha Brennan on the wing was judged to have knocked the ball on over the try line.

The second half was a more evenly matched for the first 20 minutes, with both teams creating chances to score. Mitchelson scored her second after McKenna had put her in space for the powerful centre to touch down under the posts. A successful conversion brought the score to 26-5. The final score of the game was another well worked try with the Wasps pack providing a platform for the back to attack, with slick hands and a strong finish from Liz Riley secured the bonus point for Wasps.