Gloucester-Hartpury know the challenge they are up against when they face West Country rivals Bristol Bears on Sunday for a place in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) final.
The Bears were the last team to beat the two-time league champions, in a match that also took place on their own turf at Kingsholm in November – rebranded to Queensholm for this weekend’s semi-final.
Since that 19-14 defeat Gloucester-Hartpury have not looked back, winning their past nine games to storm into the league play-offs.
“Everybody talks about what you learn from your losses and we learned a lot from our loss that day,” head of women’s rugby Sean Lynn told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.
“Everything seems to be going in the right steps [since]. Friday night against Harlequins was really positive. Sport’s all about momentum and, hopefully, we can take that momentum from Friday into Sunday.”
Gloucester-Hartpury are aiming to become the first team to win the PWR title three times consecutively.
They finished the regular season at the top of the table for a third straight campaign, with the loss to the Bears before Christmas only their sixth defeat in 54 league matches since the start of 2022-23 season.
The hunger for a third title is what has been driving the team, according to prop Maud Muir.
“We’ve experienced it, we know how to win, especially when our backs are against the wall, so I think having those two previous years is so important,” the England international said.
“We know how to win and that’s so important and that’s what you need to do in knockout rugby, is win.”
