Zoe Aldcroft v Abbie Ward: PWR final tees up line-out duel between two Red Roses

When silverware and personal pride are put on the line simultaneously, a special spectacle can ensue. And while it can be primitive to pick out individual tussles from matches, the duel between Zoe Aldcroft and Abbie Ward in Saturday’s Premiership Women’s Rugby final should provide an enthralling, pivotal subplot.

Aldcroft, the co-captain of Gloucester-Hartpury, and Ward, who fulfils the same role at Bristol Bears, are totems and line-out callers for their respective sides. They have partnered one another in England’s engine room as recently as the first game of this season’s Women’s Six Nations in Italy. This weekend they go head-to-head. Aldcroft’s Gloucester-Hartpury will bid to defend their title at Sandy Park, with Ward’s Bristol the dangerous underdogs.

Emily Scarratt, a team-mate of both protagonists with the Red Roses, is fascinated by the line-out battle alone. She has described Aldcroft and Ward as “two brains that absolutely love that side of the game”, suggesting that the pair will have been squinting at laptops and coding opposition throws for a good portion of the two-week build-up to this match.

If anyone was still in doubt as to the importance of the line-out in modern rugby union, and why technicians like Aldcroft and Ward are so highly valued, they need only examine the men’s Premiership final earlier this month. Northampton Saints struggled for fluency, even after Bath went down to 14 men. Then, in the space of five minutes early in the second quarter, they sliced the defence twice, using different, two-phase power-plays that were launched from line-outs.

Much later, in the final moments, as Bath were striving to snatch what would have been a phenomenally gutsy victory, Northampton needed to hold firm to halt a driving maul. Johann van Graan’s pack huffed and puffed but could not splinter Saints. They moved the ball wide instead, and lost possession.

Line-outs comprise multiple moving parts that require several players to stay in sync. Besides the throw, the lift and the catch, there is movement across the floor designed to deceive opponents. Only rare players can keep a “menu” of various strategies in their minds as line-out callers while running around a pitch and hurling themselves into everything else.

Joe Batley, who does the job for Bristol men, told Telegraph Sport in April that the “game within the game” between two callers is his “bread and butter”. “I know how much work I’ve put into the week,” Batley said. “I want to make sure that I haven’t been outworked because I’ve delivered in the game.”

Ward, you sense, does not often get outworked. Largely under her stewardship, Bristol have scored 51 of their 87 tries in this season’s PWR campaign from line-outs. That proportion – a whopping 59 per cent – is the most in the competition. Two pushovers paved the way for the semi-final victory away at Saracens. The second, scored by hooker Lark Atkin-Davies, was instigated by Ward’s take in the middle.

Bristol boast plenty of quality. Hannah Botterman, another Red Rose, is their loosehead prop. Evie Gallagher and Alisha Joyce-Butchers, of Scotland and Wales respectively, will be in the back row, with Amber Reed and Holly Aitchison pulling strings in midfield. Reneeqa Bonner, an elusive try-scorer, has impressed out wide. Ward is skilful and industrious around the park, but her line-out work will be especially important this weekend.

Aldcroft, a magnificent all-round operator, is three-and-a-half years younger. Having captained England in April, her star continues to rise. Sean Lynn, the head coach of Gloucester-Hartpury, was effusive about her athleticism and appetite last week.

“Zoe Aldcroft epitomises being a warrior,” he said. “I have a nickname for her – ‘Blade’ – because she just cuts people in half. Sometimes when you have Zoe on the pitch it’s like having a player and a half because of her work-rate. She takes pride in everything, even every small little detail.”

During the Six Nations, Aldcroft flitted between blindside flanker, No 8 and lock as Ward, who gave birth in July, was reintegrated by John Mitchell. The latter was kept on the bench for the finale against France, coming on just five minutes into the second period.

Aldcroft ran the England line-out in Ward’s absence, as she does for her club. Two minutes into the PWR semi-final, she set Gloucester-Hartpury on the way to a 50-19 thrashing of Exeter Chiefs by flipping an overhead offload to Lleucu George.

Deciders often come down to set-piece accuracy in big moments, as Ward will attest. Some 19 months ago, with the clock in the red at Eden Park, she was beaten to Atkin-Davies’s throw by the fingertips of New Zealand replacement Joanah Ngan-Woo. A spectacular line-out steal plunged England into World Cup final heartbreak.

Bristol’s meeting with Gloucester-Hartpury could well come down to similarly fine margins. If it does, Ward and Aldcroft are likely to be in the thick of it.