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Today's match at the StoneX, The Duel, sees a rejuvenated Harlequins bringing a confident air to the home of Saracens, with Scottish international Sarah Bonar telling The Power Pod that her team has “got more gears to give”.
Quins last tasted victory against Saracens in December 2022 but after four consecutive league wins for the first time since their title-winning campaign of 2021, Bonar told co-hosts Philippa Tuttiett and Nick Heath that the belief is there.
Bonar said, “The past couple of seasons haven't been our greatest and I think if we're being brutally honest, we probably couldn't have put our finger on exactly what it is. It's probably a number of things. But this season, it just seems to be clicking a bit better. We've got that physicality, we've got that kind of want, the determination and most importantly the belief.”
Bonar continued, “There's definitely fix-ups in our gold zone and our set piece. On both sides of our attack and defence we know we've got areas to work on, but that's what's exciting about it. We've still got more gears to give.”
Home side Saracens suffered their first loss of the season to Exeter Chiefs in Round 6 and Director of Rugby Alex Austerberry is keen to have tidied up his side’s scrum, after conceding too many penalties.
“We've got that physicality, we've got that kind of want, the determination and most importantly the belief.”
Sarah Bonar, Harlequins
Austerberry told the Power Pod, “The proof will be in the pudding this weekend to see if we can get back to having a scrum that's a real platform for us both attacking and defensively. It's been a good learning period and Richard Barrington has been in working with the girls as well. It's an area where we've been going all right until that day! So, we needed to make sure that we worked through the blip and that we corrected our processes.”
Co-host of the league’s podcast, Philippa Tuttiett was in agreement with the Sarries boss.
Tuttiett added, “It's an area that not only gives them dominance in regards to the plays and the moves that they can do off it, but it's almost like it's a confidence booster for them. When things aren't quite going right, there's a scrum. They annihilate the team. ‘Right! We're back up. We're now 10 out of 10!’, and everyone feels it.”
Sunday’s match will be the feature game on TNT Sports from 2.45pm and you can tune in to Episode 7 of The Power Pod here - https://pod.fo/e/284abe
