Gloucester-Hartpury defeat Exeter to win first Premier 15s title

Gloucester-Hartpury 34-19 Exeter: Lisa Neumann’s score six minutes from time assured victory on a landmark day at ‘Queensholm’

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Gloucester-Hartpury became the first non-London club to win the Premier 15s final with a 34-19 victory over Exeter in front of a record crowd.

Four different players scored tries for Gloucester, playing on home turf at Kingsholm, rebranded ‘Queensholm’ for the day, as the Chiefs finished runners-up for the second successive year having lost to Saracens last time around.

Kelsey Jones, watched by 9,668 in the competition’s best-attended final, opened the scoring with her eighth try of the campaign from an early driving maul.

Exeter edged ahead through Emily Tuttosi and a Liv McGoverne conversion after Sarah Beckett was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, but while still a player short the ‘home’ side hit back with Rachel Lund touching down.

Beckett marked her return to play with a try, converted by Emma Sing, to give Gloucester a half-time lead, which was extended when they were awarded a penalty try after Claudia MacDonald was penalised for tapping the ball out of play and received a yellow card.

Lund joined MacDonald in the sin-bin for a high tackle on Rachel Johnson and McGoverne made it 24-12 with a 52nd-minute try, only for Sing’s penalty to push Gloucester further ahead again.

Lisa Neumann’s score six minutes from time assured victory, with Ebony Jeffries’s late response merely a consolation.