By Will Castle
Giselle Mather hailed an 'immense' display by an Abby Dow-inspired Ealing Trailfinders after they thumped local rivals Harlequins 54-27 in their final Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby game of the season.
England star Dow lit up the Twickenham Stoop, crossing a hat-trick of tries in a resounding win on the road.
Dow set the tone with the length of the field to score brilliantly inside the first minute.
She bagged her second eight minutes before half-time and Carys Cox, Liz Crake and Julia Schell all added to the tally before the break, keeping Quins 17 points adrift at the interval, despite the hosts having scored two tries themselves.
Dow completed her treble after the restart, sandwiching her crowning score in between tries from Elisa Riffonneau and Abi Burton to take Ealing out of sight as the clock ticked over.
𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 🤩#HARvTFW #TFW 🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/5T5nXlcXxX
— Trailfinders Women (@TrailfindersW) June 2, 2024
“I’m so proud of the girls, I thought they were immense today,” Ealing director of women’s rugby Mather said.
“The performance they put out today, that’s the first 50 points on the scoreboard in terms of attack and I’m absolutely delighted.
“We played to our strengths, stuck to what we are about and we scored some amazing tries today. I’m thrilled for them.”
Mather also hailed the development of her team across their first ever season in top-level competitive rugby, achieving a more than satisfactory sixth place finish.
She added: “We started here, our very first game was 30 September 2023. They’ve now finished the season today and the growth is unbelievable.
“In individuals, in units, in the whole team, the staff as well, we’ve grown and developed. Instead of being a group of new people there’s now some really strong bonds.
“The culture of the group is fantastic. They play for each other and you could see that today. I’m absolutely thrilled for the progress of this team.”
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