“This is a special group. It was a great game,” Gloucester head coach Sean Lynn said. “It shows the character of the individuals that Sarah Beckett and Mo Hunt have. At the beginning of the year they were very disappointed [to miss out on England World Cup selection] and that is sport sometimes. But they just showed what they can do and what they can control.”
Next month will mark a watershed moment for the competition as Belinda Moore, wife of former England hooker Brian, takes charge of a company that brings together the Rugby Football Union and the clubs in a new partnership. The sky is the limit. It is easy to see why. The entertainment was compelling.
If the scoreline suggested a one-sided contest, it was anything but. Exeter, beaten finalists in the past two seasons, contributed hugely to a contest that managed to sustain a level of intensity that rarely dipped below fierce. The support was wonderfully tribal, too. Exeter had to weather long periods of pressure but never relented and proved themselves capable of hitting back with scores to keep the excitement on the boil throughout.
They will rue two periods in the game; firstly by failing to capitalise on the first-half yellow card shown to Gloucester No 8 Beckett for a high tackle on Hope Rogers.
Gloucester-Hartpury had dominated the opening exchanges but their lead had been restricted to a try by the excellent Kelsey Jones from a driving line-out maul. Hunt had come agonisingly close to adding a second but was held up over the line by Gabby Cantorna.
Moments after Beckett’s yellow card, Exeter stole the lead with a try by Emily Tuttosi, converted by Liv McGoverne. Yet critically, it was Gloucester-Hartpury who stormed back, finishing the half in control, despite their numerical disadvantage, with tries by Rachel Lund and Beckett just after her return.
The moment that took the game away from Exeter then came at the start of the second half when a chip by George over the goal-line was deliberately knocked into touch by Claudia MacDonald to prevent a try-scoring opportunity.
When Lund was shown a yellow card, Exeter hit back with a try by McGoverne but a penalty by Emma Sing extended the lead and when Kate Zackary was sent to the sin-bin for hacking the ball away to disrupt another Gloucester attack, a try by Lisa Neumann capped a memorable performance. Yet there were Exeter fighting back again, still with time to score a try via Ebony Jeffries.
“The better team came out on top and that is normally how finals go,” Susie Appleby, the Exeter head coach, said. “Over 9,000 people coming to Kingsholm to watch a final is amazing. The game is in an amazing place and the players are role models for the future.”
What a final.
