Gloucester-Hartpury beat Exeter for 12th straight win
Written by I Dig SportsDefending champions Gloucester-Hartpury maintained their 100% start to the Premiership Women's Rugby season with a 31-24 victory at home to Exeter Chiefs.
They edged out last season's runners-up by five tries to four at Kingsholm to claim a 12th win of the campaign.
Georgia Brock scored twice as Gloucester-Hartpury opened a 14-point lead over second-placed Saracens, while Exeter remain third.
Bristol Bears are fourth after winning 38-10 at seventh-placed Trailfinders.
Lana Skeldon, Lark Atkin-Davies and Gwenllian Pyrs each scored twice as Bristol claimed an eighth win of the season, the visitors running in 21 unanswered points after the break. The hosts had trailed by just five points at half-time following tries from Cristina Blanco and Vicky Laflin.
The lead changed hands five times at Gloucester-Hartpury before the home side finally opened up a decisive advantage over Exeter with 15 minutes of the contest remaining.
Emma Sing ran on to her own kick to touch down an opening try for the league leaders before the full-back released Pip Hendy on the wing for a second try out wide with only 12 minutes on the clock.
The visitors hit back through a converted try from Emily Tuttosi before Hope Rogers put them 12-10 ahead after she was judged to have got the ball down following a driving maul.
Gloucester-Hartpury wrestled back control five minutes before the break as Brock took an inside pass to go under the posts and Sing added the extra points to give them a 17-12 lead.
The pattern continued as Tuttosi scored her second of the game for Exeter four minutes into the second half before Natasha Hunt sneaked over from close range to restore the home side's five-point advantage.
Brock scored her second try of the afternoon after 64 minutes, with Sing slotting over the conversion to make it 31-19, while Eilidh Sinclair's late try in the corner helped Exeter secure two losing bonus points.
Saturday's results
Gloucester-Hartpury 31-24 Exeter Chiefs
Trailfinders 10-38 Bristol Bears
Sunday's fixtures
Saracens v Leicester Tigers (13:00 GMT)
Loughborough Lightning v Sale Sharks (15:00 GMT)