PWR Round 6 Review: Gloucester Hartpury pip Trailfinders in thriller while Exeter, Harlequins and Saracens all win

Gloucester Hartpury pipped Trailfinders Women in a thrilling contest at Kingsholm, which was the highlight of a bumper Saturday in the PWR.

Elsewhere, Exeter Chiefs took all five points at Sandy Park as they convincingly beat Bristol Bears in the West Country derby.

Harlequins beat a spirited Leicester Tigers at Welford Road as the hosts chalked up their first point of the season, and Saracens downed Loughborough Lightning at the StoneX to bring up five wins in a row.

Gloucester Hartpury 29-28 Trailfinders Women

Trailfinders took off at breakneck speed to start the game, putting the hosts under so much pressure that Natasha Hunt was sent to the sin bin.

Alana Borland scored in the next play to give Trailfinders the lead, but the Cherry-and-Whites responded immediately as Jade Shekells smashed her way over the line.

Gloucester Hartpury then took all the first-half momentum. Neve Jones and Kate Williams crossed from short range to widen the gap at half-time to 19-7.

The second term started in the same vein as Sarah Beckett drove over the Trailfinders line on her 50th appearance to increase the hosts' lead.

The visitors then surged back. Vicky Laflin went over under the posts before Beckett completed her brace, only for Borland and Niamh Gallagher to close the Cherry-and-White lead to only a point.

However, it was a case of too little too late for Trailfinders, who had to settle for two points as Gloucester-Hartpury maintained their perfect start.

Exeter Chiefs 41-14 Bristol Bears

Exeter Chiefs comprehensively beat Bristol Bears at Sandy Park to extend their unbeaten run to four PWR matches.

The hosts dominated the opening quarter, as Abby Duguid and Flo Robinson crossed the whitewash to give Exeter a 12-0 lead.

Bears responded through Millie David, who continued her rich vein of try-scoring form, only for Liv McGovern to answer right back with a score of her own.

Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald then rode the Chiefs' driving maul to score from 15m out, making the half-time score 22-5.

Bristol started the second half brighter after Emma Orr picked a beautiful line to smash through the Chiefs' defence to score.

However, the hosts grabbed back the momentum and tries from Sabrina Poulin, Alex Tessier and Maisey Allen capped an excellent performance.

Leicester Tigers 28-56 Harlequins

Harlequins bounced back from their loss away at Exeter last time out with a thumping victory over a spirited Leicester Tigers side, who earned their first point of the season from the encounter.

Sarah Parry opened the scoring inside two minutes for Quins; however, Tigers quickly grabbed the lead after Micke Gunter and Kristin Bitter scored for the hosts.

The visitors began to step up the physicality, and Carys Phillips scored back-to-back tries from the Quins' rolling maul to give her side a narrow 14-21 half-time lead.

From the break, Harlequins continued to press their advantage, and Phillips completed her hat-trick swiftly after kick-off.

Nadine Vincent then responded for the Tigers to keep the contest within one score; however, another quick-fire brace, this time from Connie Powell, quelled any thoughts of a comeback.

Tigers kept pushing and scored their bonus point try through Charlotte Daley, before Freya Aucken and Ellie Kildunne wrapped up an impressive Quins performance with scores of their own.

Saracens 33-15 Loughborough Lightning

Saracens came out on top of a physical battle with Loughborough Lightning at the Stonex to earn their fifth win in a row.

Alysha Corrigan gave the hosts the perfect start as she crossed in the corner inside five minutes, and Olivia Apps followed up soon after to stretch the Saracens lead to 12 early on.

The remainder of the first half was an arm wrestle in stormy conditions, until Lucy Calladine scored on the stroke of half-time to give Loughborough momentum heading into the break.

Lightning continued their fightback and Sadia Kabeya worked her way over from the Loughborough rolling maul to reduce the deficit to two, before Daisy Hibbert-Jones finished off an excellent move to give the visitors the lead.

The Loughborough captain's score sparked Sarries into life, and Rosie Galligan and Apps scored in quick succession to flip the momentum back to the hosts.

From there, Saracens controlled the contest, and Marlie Packer scored with two minutes to go to wrap up the five points.