Lynn bids emotional winning farewell to Gloucester Hartpury

Sean Lynn will have no time to reflect on an historic hat-trick of titles for Gloucester Hartpury but that does not make it any less special for the departing coach.

Lynn oversaw the Circus’ comeback victory over Saracens at StoneX Stadium as they made it three Premiership Women’s Rugby titles in a row – triumphing 34-19.

The celebrations of that threepeat began in earnest, but for Lynn, attention will immediately turn to his next role, head coach of the Wales national team, and an opening match in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations against Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday.

But after signing off a 24-year association with the club on the back of a third straight win, Lynn made the most of those final moments.

He said: “I said in the huddle at the end, to have my family in that huddle, dreams do come true. To finish this five-year stint with Gloucester Hartpury women, winning the threepeat is very special.

“I keep saying it’s not about me. I just love what this group of players and staff are creating at Gloucester Hartpury. To have the stadium renamed Queensholm and to get 7,500 here today, the PWR, the women’s game is just growing and growing. It was a spectacle out there.

“I’ll enjoy it, I’ll celebrate with the players, celebrate with the staff and then I’m in Cardiff tomorrow at 9am, preparing for the Six Nations, Scotland on Saturday.”

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Despite the final scoreline, this was a seesaw affair, with Saracens leading 19-5 midway through the first half as they burst out of the blocks.

That lead had been cut to four points by the break, before Gloucester Hartpury took control of the game in the second half – following some stern words from Lynn.

He said: “I did throw a rocket in there at half time because it wasn’t us. I knew we had to make it happen. The most frustrating part was what we had spoken about in the week, we just weren’t delivering that.

“Full credit to Sarries, coming here, we knew it was going to be a tough task. I think when you have senior players like Lleucu George and Mo Hunt, you can build that momentum, gathering that territorial gain, we just suffocated Saracens and that is what we wanted to do in the second half.”

With the lack of time to recover, Lynn believes that the enormity of what he has achieved with the team will not sink in immediately.

Instead, it may not be until the league gets back up and running in October that he truly comes to terms with saying goodbye to the Circus.

He added: “A lot of people were askinig me how it feels to be in my final week. I've been there 24 years and it felt strange. But because I've got to go to the Six Nations on Monday and then I'm going into prepping for the World Cup, we're going to Australia and then we're going into the World Cup, I think it will hit me in October when PWR does start back up and I'm in the stands watching PWR players from Wales.”