Are Gloucester-Hartpury faltering?
Having start the season with a 16-game winning run, Gloucester-Hartpury's post Six Nations form has been disappointing to say the least. They have had a home semi-final wrapped up for weeks, and have rotated the team, but there is still cause for concern. Key stars remain unavailable and losing back-to-back games puts this team in a very unfamiliar position. They are still many people's favourites to win the league, but their advantage is slipping. They'll be hoping that the return of a couple of stalwarts will stabilise the team in time to get their revenge against Trailfinders in ther semi-final.
The future of Ellie Kildunne looms large
Harlequins were the team that didn't play in the final round and they were already out of contention. Despite that, they still managed to make headlines with the news that Ellie Kildunne is leaving the team at the end of the season. It appears that her departure was not on her terms but rather at the behest of the club. The news was followed by an unflattering Telegraph article which reported that those at the club became sick of alleged lateness and lack of integration with the team from Kildunne. Whatever the case may be, she will surely have plenty of suitors lined up.
As for Harlequins, they could look to bring in a new fullback but they do have other options at the club. Kayleigh Powell is a fly-half and fullback who has filled in well for Kildunne this season. Claudia Pena, who has just signed a new contract at the club, is one of the best young players in PWR and can play at fullback as well as her more regular outside centre position. The club also have an exciting young prospect at the position. Solana Shaw de Leon has already shown promise for Harlequins and has been a ray of light in a very challenging season for the GB sevens team. Harlequins may be looking at cost effective solutions at the position in order to stay under the salary cap and perhaps signing Kildunne became unfeasible as a result.
The league has been very tight all year and its going to be even closer next season
PWR can be split into 4 sections. At the top, Gloucester-Hartpury and Saracens are both on more than 70 points and are run-away leaders having both won 14 games. Exeter are the stand-alone chaser in 3rd having won 9 games and sitting 10 points clear of 4th. They are closer to the main pack than they are to the top 2 but are still comfortably above the rest. Behind them sit the main pack, made up of: Trailfinders, Harlequins, Loughborough, Sale, and Bristol. Trailfinders qualified for the playoffs but every single one of these teams registered between 5 and 7 wins over the course of a 16-game season. Loughborough were the only team in that group to fall below 6 wins but still finished above Sale and Bristol as a result of accumulating more bonus points. Leicester are way behind having failed to win a game and amassing just 3 bonus points over the course of the season. However, they have begun to invest more in the squad and have already made a couple of promising signings. Unless the Tigers make some huge moves it's difficult to see them not finishing last next season, but they will definitely be more competitive within the league.
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