Another typically well-timed article, as you may have seen from their victory last weekend, Bristol Bears are an exciting team stacked with talented players and some of the best squad depth in all of Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby.
Both Leicester Tigers and Bears have been explicit in their desire to play running rugby, a commitment to high scoring matches.
The Bristolians joined Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby in its inaugural season of 2017/18, back when it was known as the Premier 15s, finishing that season in sixth place.
They would remain consistently around that lower midtable area, again finishing sixth the year after, then eighth in 2020/21.
The last two seasons were Bears’ best ever in the top flight, finishing third in 2021/22, were they lost in the semi-final to runners-up Exeter Chiefs and then, in 2022/23, finishing fourth and falling in the play-off semi-finals to eventual champions Gloucester-Hartpury.
A key parallel that immediately springs to mind between Bears and Tigers is the statement of intent made with their summer signings.
Based on their movements over the summer, the South-West club are certainly refusing to rest on their laurels, recruiting a whole host of star names to join the project, with a hope they are able to finally take that next step and reach the Premiership final.
These movements include incomings Holly Aitchison, star fly-half who started in the 2021 Rugby World Cup final and, just like Tigers’ own Meg Jones and Celia Quansah, is also a 7s star, the playmaker a member of the Team GB squad that travelled to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic games.
The other marquee signing over the summer is that of Hannah Botterman. Botterman’s inclusion especially rings alarm bells for opposing scrums, the international prop adding further firepower to a front-row frothing with ferocity.
The tighthead is linking up with England international teammates Sarah Bern, loosehead prop and Lark Atkin-Davies, hooker. These starters come in addition to the incredible strength in depth the team possess' with the likes of Simi Pam, Ellie Marston-Mulhern and, Scotland international, Elliann Clarke.
It’s set to be quite the battle as the front-row with Tigers of course possessing homegrown stars like Jade Jones, Churchy Knight and Ofure Ugiagbe, the latter two the first women to reach 20 caps, but also recruiting a plethora of both established Premiership level talent, such as the likes of Leah Bartlett and Amy Cokayne, and exciting up and comers looking to establish themselves at the elite level, like Alana Bainbridge, Elis Martin and Keia Mae Sagapolu.
A final area to mention that draws comparisons would be the facilities available.
Both Aitchison and Botterman spoke about the ‘world class’ facilities available to them in the South-West as a big part of them joining the club.
In a similar vein, infrastructure has been a huge part of the off-season for Leicester Tigers, investing in the local Oaks Park facility to give the women’s team a space to own themselves, while the pitches and gym at the club’s main Oval Park training ground are industry leading.
Although the result may not have gone to plan in the Allianz Cup, Tigers have seven game weeks before they face-off against Bristol Bears again. Just how much will the result differ this time around?
