Bristol Bears unleashed a dominant display on Sale Sharks in the opening game of the Premiership Women’s Rugby season. The rebranded league has been called a new era for women’s rugby and something that epitomised where the game is going more than anything was Bristol second row Abbie Ward walking out at Ashton Gate with her 17-week-old baby, Hallie.
Ward, who returned for the first time since the World Cup final in November 2022, was the first contracted Red Roses player to benefit from the Rugby Football Union’s new maternity policy and when she announced her pregnancy she targeted the 2023-24 season as her return to play – not only did she feature but she came immediately into the starting XV.
It was with her daughter that she first put studs to soil, to rapturous applause from the crowd. Just before the whistle, Ward handed Hallie to her husband – the Bristol head coach, Dave Ward. Fourteen minutes later she scored.
“Running out with my daughter was never something we envisaged as players because it wasn’t really an option, it was one or the other,” Ward said. “To be able to do that, for people to see that and, hopefully, for athletes to feel like they have that option is huge. I loved it, every moment.”
Bristol’s marquee signings this summer were Hannah Botterman and Holly Aitchison, who both moved from three-time Premier 15s champions Saracens. They made impressive debuts with the prop Botterman winning scrum penalties, though she was hooked in the 37th minute to manage her playing time after returning from England’s WXV tournament.
Aitchison, at fly-half, had a near-perfect day off the tee and delivered a pinpoint crossfield kick for Reneeqa Bonner’s try.
Bristol’s scoring frenzy began in the fourth minute after Sale’s Hollie Bawden was given a yellow card following a tackle off the ball. A clean lineout from Bristol and a clinical driving maul put the hosts over for their first try, scored by Lark Atkin-Davies. Aitchison’s link up with Bonner came next, soon followed by Ward’s effort in the right corner.
Sale grew into the match and managed to subdue the hosts for a short period, their defence repelling the continued fight, including a crunching tackle from Laura Perrin after Lucy Burgess made a break. The full-back read it incredibly well, tracked back and put in a monster hit on the scrum-half and it caused a delayed groan from the supporters to echo around Ashton Gate.
Burgess was shortly back to her feet and her fast footwork secured Bristol’s bonus-point.
Sale’s big signing of the summer came in the form of the Italy centre Beatrice Rigoni but such was the dominance of Bristol that she barely had a sniff of the ball in the opening 39 minutes. But with her first chance, and with the tryline in sight, she scored to put her club on the board just before the break.
The rain started to fall just before the second 40 and the flow of Bristol tries did not stop, with Phoebe Murray adding to Sale’s misery. They were hit with two more driving mauls, one scored by Atkin-Davies and another by the replacement prop Jessica Sprague. A sumptuous team try finished the scoring, a slick and fast-paced attack allowing Ella Lovibond to sidestep her way to score.
Sale had more opportunities on the ball in the second half but a recipe of handling errors, miscommunication and great breakdown work from Bristol meant they were unable to add anything more to the scoreboard.
