Trailfinders Women completed their PWR campaign in fantastic fashion with a scintillating 54-27 victory over Harlequins at the Stoop.
The bonus point win means that Trailfinders leapfrog above Harlequins into sixth to cap off a brilliant first season as an elite outfit.
It was an electric start from Trailfinders Women as Abby Dow ripped the ball free in midfield two minutes in and raced away to score under the posts completely untouched. Green converted.
One try became two just minutes after following a brave charge down by Megan Barwick, with the ball colliding off her face and falling kindly for Liz Crake, who used her boot to nudge it over the line and collapsed on top of it.
Ella Cromack reduced the deficit for Harlequins off the tee after successive infringements inside the Trailfinders half gifted Quins a penalty in front of the posts.
Dominant from the off, Trailfinders struck again 14 minutes in through a sensational effort from Carys Cox, who ran in untouched all the way from inside the Trailfinders half, outpacing all the defenders in her sight to dot down under the posts. Green converted.
Successive penalties pinged Trailfinders back inside their 22, and sustained pressure from Quins saw Abi Burton sent to the sin bin for an offside infringement on the line.
With no penalty try given, Harlequins kicked to the corner with 25 minutes on the clock and scored straight off the rolling maul through their captain Jade Konkel. The conversion went just wide.
Give Abby Dow an inch, and she will take a mile. Harlequins initially knock on, but Vicky Laflin retrieves the ball and makes a brilliant bursting break through midfield, and when felled provided a delightful pop up to Dow, who does what she does best and just scores with an incredible turn of pace. Green’s conversion was good.
Quins hit back 35 minutes in through Lagi Tuima as she burst away from the Trailfinders line on their 22 to dot down. Cormack added the extras.
The away side were not finished for the half however, as Dow played an outstanding pass amidst the chaos of a broken line into Cox, who broke away with a rapid turn of speed to feed in Julia Schell in a two on one on the left flank to score in the corner. Green’s fantastic conversion left the score 15-33 at half time.
The departing Elisa Riffoneau demonstrated just how much of a miss she will be next season 10 minutes into the second half, after some dazzling hands from Trailfinders and an incredible long pass from Tyson Beukeboom fed in Rosie Inman down the right, who popped it inside to Riffoneau off a big breakaway to finish off. Green converted.
Quins hit back five minutes later off the rolling maul again, and with a successful conversion from Cromack, the lead was reduced to 18 points.
Dow secured her hat-trick 68 minutes in with yet another bit of brilliance, bursting through a well-set Quins line as if it wasn’t there to dive over the whitewash from 40 metres out. Green’s excellent day with the boot continued.
The home side scored a consolation try on 78 minutes through Katie Shillaker, who intercepted an offload from Laflin and raced away to score.
The error cleared from memory as quick as control, alt, delete, a mere minute later Laflin was back again making another classy breakaway from the Quins line. This time her pass was perfect, popping the ball up off the ground for Abi Burton to score under the posts in the last play of the game. Schell converted to cap off a brilliant victory and Trailfinders’ first 50+ PWR score!
