Murrayfield Wanderers Women and Hillhead Jordanhill Women go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all title special at Murrayfield. Two teams both with one hand on the title, but just one BT Women’s Premier League crown available. Kick-off is 2pm and it’s free admission for all spectators.
Photo: Rugby People
It’s been a 2016/2017 title race to savour so far this season and after five months of action the destiny of the Premier League comes down to 80 minutes of women’s rugby between the two best club sides in the country.
At the beginning of October it was Murrayfield Wanderers who took what seemed a sizeable step towards retaining their title when they defeated Hillhead Jordanhill by a 38-24 margin in Glasgow. Both sides then embarked on an unbeaten streak until they met for the second time in December, once against at Hughenden. And this time it was a very different story with Hillhead Jordanhill taking the spoils courtesy of a convincing 27-5 victory, leapfrogging Wandies in the process to go top the table.
Photo: Rugby People
The sides come into today’s match on the 4G pitch at Murrayfield in fine scoring form. Hills scored 47 points and Wandies 48 points last weekend against RHC Cougars and Stewartry respectively. Thus while it’s guaranteed to be a tense affair an entertaining match with plenty of points action is also on the menu. We caught up with Scottish internationals Lisa Martin (Murrayfield Wanderers) and Jade Konkel (Hillhead Jordanhill) on Friday morning for their thoughts ahead of Sunday’s showdown.
Asked about the build-up to the match Martin said: “We had a great team session last night with 30 players involved. There are no injury concerns in the Wandies camp and we’re looking forward to taking part in a match that will showcase the best that Scottish women’s rugby has to offer. Meanwhile Konkel confirmed training had gone well for Hillhead Jordanhill, notwithstanding a couple of injury problems, adding: “We’ve been training on the 3G pitch at Scotstoun in readiness for Sunday and had (former Glasgow Warriors captain and Scotland international) Alastair Kellock take a line-out session this week as part of our preparations.”
It’s all set up perfectly for Sunday afternoon. Can Wandies make it a title hat-trick, or will Hills dash their dreams to take Premier League glory? All roads lead to Murrayfield for a grandstand showdown to find out!
Ones to watch: Envisaging the match may go right to the wire we asked Lisa Martin and Jade Konkel to name a couple of potential match-winners in their side.
For Murrayfield Wanderers, Martin highlighted two players in their back line, namely No.15 Chloe Rollie and Eilidh Sinclair. Rollie for her speed and ability to spot a gap, and Sinclair who possessing a side-step that makes her very difficult to defend against.
For Hillhead Jordanhill, Konkel picked forward Louise McMillan as a player likely have a major influence on the game. The 19-year-old captains the Glasgow side and recently won her first international cap. And in the back line centre Hannah Smith has power to match her excellent ability to read the game.
Kick off is at 2pm.
Admission: free entry for all spectators.