Bears bid to hunt down the top dogs

GLOUCESTER-Hartpury will be aiming to secure back-toback Premiership Women's titles at Sandy Park on Saturday but standing in their way are a Bristol Bears side that appear to be peaking at the right time.

- BEN JAYCOCK

Bristol are appearing in their first PWR final but will have to make do without 14-try winger Deborah Wills after she suffered a significant leg injury in last weekend's win over Saracens.

Table-toppers Gloucester-Hartpury will go into the final as overwhelming favourites given they've been beaten just once all season, against Saracens by just 33-31 on the final day of the regular season, and finished 16 points clear of third-place Bristol.

However, both previous meetings were closely fought affairs going the way of Gloucester-Hartpury as the visitors won 12-0 at a shudderingly cold Shaftesbury Park in December, while in February's meeting at Kingsholm the scoreline was 24-19.

Bristol head coach Dave Ward is embracing the underdog tag but says his side can take heart from their close contests considering other teams in the PWR have felt the wrath of the champions' power, admitting there's a reason why they are the league's pacesetters once again.

Ward, right, told The Rugby Paper: "The stats speak for themselves, they are a formidable opponent and almost achieved as they reached the big dance courtesy of a 2921 victory at the StoneX against four-time winners Saracens, which was the first ever away semi-final win in PWR history.

However, Ward says it's time for his side to put their groundbreaking win behind them and start to focus on the big job at hand.