Sale Sharks Women will kick off the inaugural PWR Up Series with a home fixture against Loughborough Lightning, it was announced today.
Rachel Taylor’s team face their PWR rivals in the first game of the season warm-up series on Saturday 7th September.
Sharks’ second fixture will see them travel to Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium to take on Leicester Tigers on Saturday 14th September.
Three weekends of fixtures will act as a warm-up for all nine Premiership Women’s Rugby clubs before their launch into league action on Saturday 5th October.
Clubs have been grouped together into regional pools of three and will play one another once across three weekends.
It will be an opportunity to see how league champions Gloucester-Hartpury fare as they prepare to defend back-to-back titles and how Bristol Bears bounce back from being league and Allianz Cup runners-up.
The PWR Up Series will also deliver full-blooded local rivalries in every fixture, culminating in a triple-header Super Saturday on 21st September, with matches at Shaftesbury Park, StoneX Stadium and cinch Stadium at Frankin’s Gardens.
The PWR Up Series will provide clubs the opportunity to get out on the pitch after a pre-season fine-tuning their craft for the 2024-25 campaign.
It will be another landmark season of women’s rugby in England.
With the Allianz PWR season concluding on Sunday 16 March, this gives the Red Roses a five-week rest period before the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations and extra preparation for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup hosted on home soil.
Pool A: Leicester Tigers, Loughborough Lightning and Sale Sharks
Pool B: Bristol Bears, Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester-Hartpury
Pool C: Harlequins, Saracens and Trailfinders Women
Fixtures
Saturday 7 September
2pm – Sale Sharks v Loughborough Lightning
CorpAcq Stadium
Sunday 8 September
2pm – Gloucester-Hartpury v Exeter Chiefs
Hartpury University Stadium
3pm – Trailfinders Women v Harlequins
Trailfinders Sports Club
Saturday 14 September
Noon – Harlequins v Saracens
Twickenham Stoop
12.30pm – Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks
Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium
Sunday 15 September
2pm – Exeter Chiefs v Bristol Bears
Sandy Park Stadium
Saturday 21 September
2pm – Bristol Bears v Gloucester-Hartpury
Shaftesbury Park
2pm – Saracens v Trailfinders Women
StoneX Stadium
3pm – Loughborough Lightning v Leicester Tigers
cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
