1
What to watch in women’s rugby: PWR, Super Rugby Women’s and more
It’s an incredibly busy time in the women’s game as Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) and the Celtic Challenge head into the championship rounds, while Super Rugby Women’s and World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger get underway.
ADVERTISEMENT
Only four teams remain in contention for the PWR title, with this weekend’s semi-finals at StoneX Stadium and Queensholm deciding who makes it to the final on March 16.
There are also two rounds left to play in the Celtic Challenge and Clovers know they have ground to make up if they are to prise the title away from the Wolfhounds.
Video Player is loading.
Over in Australia, this year’s Super Rugby Women’s tournament will commence with a re-run of the 2024 Grand Final in Sydney before last year’s other play-off contenders enter the fray in Perth.
And if all that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite then Cape Town’s Athlone Stadium will play host to the 12 teams bidding for a spot on HSBC SVNS 2026.
Watch all that action and much, much more live and for free via RugbyPass TV*.
Local rivalries ignite PWR semi-finals
Four teams remain in the hunt for silverware as the PWR play-offs get underway this weekend, live and for free via RugbyPass TV.
Second-placed Saracens host Harlequins in the first semi-final at StoneX Stadium before Bristol Bears travel to the rebranded Queensholm to take on back-to-back defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bears became the first team to win a one-off away semi-final when they beat Saracens to claim their place in last season’s final and they will take heart from a victory on the road against the Circus in November.
Coincidentally all four corresponding fixtures featuring the semi-finalists played during the regular season ended in victory for the visiting team, adding a further sense of jeopardy to proceedings if any were needed.
Gloucester-Hartpury, though, start the semi-finals as favourites to lift a third successive title on March 16, given they finished top of the regular season table, 15 points clear of Sunday’s opponents, Bristol.
Sunday’s semi-final will be Sean Lynn’s final home match in charge before he leaves the club to take over as Wales head coach in time for the Women’s Six Nations.
ADVERTISEMENT
Close to 5,000 tickets had already been sold for the Queensholm showdown by Thursday morning but both Lynn and co-captain Natasha Hunt insisted they would not let outside noise impact their preparations.
“We’re not going to get carried away with emotion,” Hunt said. “We know that knockout rugby is all about what we do, how we turn up on the day, how we go about it, and we’ll be the same [on Sunday].
“We’ve been here for the last three years. We know what it’s about, we know what it’s going to take. So, we’re ready for it.”
Bristol will be cheered on by a healthy number of travelling fans, and Bears head coach Dave Ward insisted his side had “nothing to lose” on Sunday.
Ward also revealed this week that Scotland duo Emma Orr and Lana Skeldon were nearing a return from injury, although the semi-final may come too soon.
On Saturday, Quins make the short trip to north London to take on rivals Saracens in the weekend’s first semi-final.
Quins secured a 15-14 win at Saracens November as part of a 10-match winning run that catapulted the 2021 champions into the top four.
However, they finished the regular season with only one victory in their final four matches, a sequence that started with a 33-10 home defeat to Saracens.
Hosts Saracens will start the first semi-final as slight favourites on home turf but Quins head coach Ross Chisholm and No.8 Jade Konkel-Roberts backed knockout rugby to bring the best out of their side.
“Everyone can’t wait to get to Saturday,” Kinked-Roberts said. “It definitely feels different than the last couple weeks.
“It feels like we’ve got a clean slate. We’re up to knockout rugby now, and I feel like we thrive in those kind of high pressure situations.”
Saturday, March 1
15:00 GMT – Saracens v Harlequins, StoneX Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE
Sunday, March 2
15:00 GMT – Gloucester-Hartpury v Bristol Bears, Queensholm – WATCH LIVE HERE
Super Rugby Women’s kicks off with bang
The new Super Rugby Women’s season gets underway this Friday with a repeat of the 2024 Grand Final.
Desiree Miller scored a hat-trick of tries in Brisbane last April as Waratahs Women surged to a 50-14 victory that broke back-to-back champions Fijian Drua’s stranglehold on the title.
The teams will renew their rivalry on opening night as Waratahs host the Drua at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, with both teams hoping to land an early psychological blow in the 2025 championship.
However, Waratahs coach Mike Ruthven downplayed the significance of their Grand Final meeting with the Drua ahead of this Friday’s rematch.
“We really haven’t reflected on last year. New coaching group, new group, we’ve really focused on what this group can achieve this season.
“Certainly haven’t reflected heavily on what we did last year and again, the focus has been about what this group can achieve.”
Given we are at the start of a huge World Cup year, there is an added dimension to watching the likes of Kaitlan Leaney, Emily Chancellor and Maya Stewart going up against Asinate Serevi, Karalaini Naisewa and Vitalina Naikore.
The action continues on Saturday as the other two 2024 semi-finalists, Western Force and Brumbies meet at HBF Park.
Wallaroos captain Michaela Leonard will line up in the Force second row while exciting young fly-half Faitala Moleka will pull the strings for the Brumbies.
Watch all the action from both matches live and for free via RugbyPass TV, except in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Friday, February 28
06:05 GMT – Waratahs v Drua, Allianz Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE
Saturday, March 1
06:05 GMT – Force v Brumbies, HBF Park – WATCH LIVE HERE
Can Clovers close the gap?
Clovers continue their Celtic Challenge quest with a trip to Hive Stadium to take on Edinburgh.
Denis Fogarty’s side head into the penultimate round of the season second, and only two points adrift of Irish rivals Wolfhounds at the top of the standings.
Last weekend, Clovers enjoyed a record 94-7 win against Brython Thunder, and they will be keen to keep the title race alive heading into round 10.
Edinburgh won the corresponding fixture last season en route to second place overall but they have found things harder going this time around.
Defeat to Wolfhounds last time out was Edinburgh’s sixth in eight games this season and left them fourth, 17 points adrift of Saturday’s visitors.
Find out if they can halt a run of five consecutive defeats, which began against Clovers in round four, live and for free via RugbyPass TV.
Saturday, March 1
13:00 GMT – Edinburgh Rugby v Clovers, Hive Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE
South Africa aim to bounce back
Twelve teams have arrived in Cape Town for the start of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, which hosts South Africa hope to use as a springboard back to the SVNS circuit.
The Springbok Women’s Sevens lost their place in the World Series following a 22-0 defeat to Spain in their SVNS relegation play-off in Madrid last June.
Their bid to make an instant return will start against Hong Kong China at Athlone Stadium on Saturday, and they will then play Czechia in Pool A.
Pool B contains Argentina, Mexico and Thailand, while Colombia, Uganda and Belgium have been drawn in Pool C and Kenya, Samoa and Poland are in Pool D.
Cape Town will play host to the first two rounds of the Challenger across the next fortnight with the top eight teams in the standings at the end of the second of those qualifying for the third tournament in Krakow in April.
The top four teams in the standings at the end of the tournament in Poland will then guarantee their passage to the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles between May 3-4.
For now, though, the focus can only be on this weekend’s opening round in Cape Town and RugbyPass TV is streaming both matchdays live and for free, except in Canada and South Africa.
Saturday, March 1
07:55 GMT – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger Cape Town day one, Athlone Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE
Sunday, March 2
07:55 GMT – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger Cape Town day two, Athlone Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE
*Except where there is a local broadcast deal in place.
New tickets for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 are now available, with prices starting at £10 for adults and £5 for children. Buy now!
Why is it so difficult to warm to Saracens women, even with Harrison, Galligan and Breach in their team?