Kildunne steals show with a gem

■ By THOMAS SCOTT

Harlequins ………….38 Bristol Bears ……… 12

HARLEQUINS Women produced an inspired showing to secure a comprehensive victory at Big Game 17.

It was Quins who made the fastest start, constantly pressuring and hounding the Bristol Bears defence.

A series of strong carries saw Jade Konkel illegally stopped as she went to ground the ball, with Bristol’s Pam Buisa seeing yellow. That only slowed the Quins momentum momentarily though, as Liana Mikaele-Tu’u crashed over for the opening score of the game.

Quins’ Ella Cromack then saw yellow for an illegal tackle, before Sarah Bern saw yellow too for a high tackle on Nicole Wythe.

Despite the chaos and confusion in the ranks, Quins kept their heads, with a sweeping backs move seeing Lauren Tor-ley show superb agility and strength to dot down out wide.

Quins were purring in attack now, with Ellie Kildunne the next to score and it was an absolute gem of a score.

The full-back chipped through, sprinting into the backfield and collecting her own kick to dive over under the sticks and spark jubilant scenes.

Bristol hit back shortly after though with a well-taken Millie David try, but Quins had the bonus-point sewn up by full-time, with another powerful finish out wide, this time from Claudia Pena.

After the chaos of the first half, it was perhaps unsurprising that the second-half took a while to get going.

It was a beleaguered Bears side, who had lost a number of players to injury who struck first through Amy Dale, before Quins found a spark of their own off the bench, as Freya Aucken bagged a brace.