Match report: Bristol Bears Women 10-36 Saracens Women

Poppy Cleall scored twice on her return from international duty to secure a 36-10 victory for Saracens against a fiery Bristol Bears Women.

Poppy Cleall scored twice on her return from international duty to secure a 36-10 victory for Saracens against a fiery Bristol Bears Women.

Sydney Gregson opened the scoring for Sarries and Sophie de Goede crossed the line for her first try for the club before Cleall scored to extend the lead out to 17-0.

Sarries didn’t have it all their own way in the first-half and the game became increasingly feisty after Simi Pam scored for Bristol to make it 17-5.

But after the break Gregson and May Campbell both scored either side of a superb try from Bristol’s Jasmine Joyce before Cleall wrapped things up with her second.

Sarries dominated the opening five-minutes, forcing Bristol into touch with some aggressive defense and after a strong line-out drive Gregson broke a tackle in midfield and touched down for the game’s opening try.

The Women in Black had their second score minutes later after a superb break down the left flank from Marlie Packer and when the ball came back in field De Goede hit a fantastic line to score her first try for Saracens.

Gregson then broke Bristol’s defensive line with another stunning run, leading to Cleall’s first score from the base of the resulting ruck as Sarries showed great execution to extend their lead to 17-0 with only 20 minutes gone.

However, Bristol soon found their claws and after a series of penalties and line-out mauls, Pam exploited a gap on the edge of the breakdown to score.

After the break Saracens came out firing and within seven minutes of the restart Campbell crossed the line for the bonus point score from the back of a driving maul.

The game was far from over though as Joyce showed lightning pace and ingenuity to create a line break out of nothing on halfway before finishing in the corner a few phases later.

Harrison then showed great hands as she and Gregson combined with a clever switch play that put the latter through to score her second try and give Sarries some breathing room.

And Cleall finished things off with a pick-and-go to secure a sixth consecutive bonus-point victory for Alex Austerberry’s side.