What to watch in women’s rugby: PWR, SVNS heating up

Promising starts in both Premiership Women’s Rugby and HSBC SVNS 2025 will be tested live on RugbyPass TV this weekend.

Exeter Chiefs sit proudly at the top of the PWR table following seven wins from seven matches this season, ahead of a blockbuster derby against Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate.

Australia, meanwhile, arrived in Cape Town for the second round of the SVNS world series in supreme form following their latest tournament success in Dubai.

You can watch all that action, and much more, live and for free via RugbyPass TV.

Chiefs head to Bear country

As the 2024/25 PWR season reaches its halfway stage, Exeter take their perfect start up the M5 on Saturday for a mouth-watering West Country derby.

Bears’ star signing Ilona Maher is expected to be at Ashton Gate as she continues to acclimatise to her new surroundings ahead of her return next month, but this match is very much about the here and now.

Chiefs, beaten finalists in 2022 and 2023, have made a stunning start to the current campaign, defeating both Gloucester-Hartpury and Saracens on their way to racking up seven wins from seven.

Bristol were PWR runners-up themselves in June, but their two defeats this term have both come at home.

They head into Saturday’s match on a high, though, having won three matches in a row – including a 19-14 victory at Kingsholm last weekend – to climb to fourth in the table.

“I think Bristol is a hugely dangerous team. They love to attack and they're really, really good at it,” Chiefs playmaker Gabby Cantorna told RugbyPass this week.

“It's a big occasion and it's exciting. I've never played at Ashton Gate before, we've always played them at Shaftesbury Park, so I'm excited to be able to see Ashton Gate and play on that pitch.

“I think because we're so close, we'll have decent support. I think they'll pull some nice support as well, so it's going to be a good game, good for rugby in the area and overall, two teams that are exciting to watch going against each other.

“Something is always bound to happen. We don't tend to have a boring game against them.”

Last season, Chiefs built a 12-0 lead at Shaftesbury Park but were reduced to 14 players early in the second half and ultimately ended up losing, Meg Varley scoring the decisive try late on to confirm a 22-12 Bears win.

Although, there is lots of rugby to be played between now and the end of the regular season, Bristol head coach Dave Ward thinks it is vital his side get a result on Saturday if they are to maintain their push for a top-four finish and a place in the semi-finals.

“You see it already within the league, everyone's beating everyone,” he said. “It's not quite going to be the clear two-horse race that it probably was last season and the season before that.

“Everyone wants a home semi-final. You've got to beat the top four, you've got to take points off each other, if you want that home semi-final.

“What is the top four? Because at the moment Quins are second, they're having a fantastic year under Ross Chisholm. Someone's got to be out of it, let's just make sure it's not Bristol from my perspective.

“You know, Gloucester are in fifth at the moment, Saracens in third, it's all to play for. We've got Exeter and Saracens in the next three games, so we've got a huge opportunity to take points off them.”

A host of international stars will line-up on either side at Ashton Gate, but Ward believes the competition in the front row – where Bears props Hannah Botterman and Sarah Bern will face Hope Rogers and DaLeaka Menin – will be key.

“The DaLeaka-Hope, Botterman-Bern battle, the prop idol battle on the weekend is going to be huge isn't it,” he added. “That's worth admission alone.

“From our perspective it's going to be a real battle of who gets on top of the set-piece and then who can deliver to the backs in most amount of space because they've got some good defenders as well.”

You can watch the match live and for free via RugbyPass TV, except in the UK, Ireland, USA and Canada.

Saturday, December 7

15:05 GMT – Bristol Bears v Exeter Chiefs, Ashton Gate – WATCH LIVE HERE

SVNS heads to Cape Town

Australia will hope to back up their opening round victory in Dubai when HSBC SVNS 2025 moves to Cape Town this weekend.

World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year Maddison Levi was in stunning form yet again at The Sevens Stadium, crossing the whitewash 15 times to help Australia to a fifth successive Dubai title.

Her 15th try of another prolific tournament was the match-winning score to give her side a thrilling 28-24 final victory against Olympic champions New Zealand.

Their reward for that performance is a place in Pool A, alongside Canada – who they beat in the Cup quarter-finals in Dubai – and Brazil.

In a tweak to the format for Cape Town, the 12 teams have been drawn into four pools of three with the top two advancing to the quarter-finals.

Dubai runners-up, the Black Ferns Sevens, are in Pool B with Japan and China, while France, Ireland and Spain make up an all-European Pool C.

Pool D, meanwhile, features Great Britain – who narrowly missed out on a place on the podium last weekend – USA and Fiji.

The second round will get underway at 09:00 local time (GMT+2) on Friday with the meeting between USA and Fiji, bronze medallists from the last two Olympic Games.

You can watch all the matches from DHL Stadium live and for free via RugbyPass TV, except where there is an exclusive local broadcast deal in place.

Saturday, December 7

06:55 GMT - HSBC SVNS Cape Town, DHL Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE

Sunday, December 8

06:55 GMT – HSBC SVNS Cape Town, DHL Stadium – WATCH LIVE HERE