Murphy needs to take stock after semi-final loss

Gloucester-Hartpury head coach Dan Murphy said it will take time to evaluate how to approach next season following their Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) semi-final defeat to Trailfinders.

The three-times defending champions have dominated the league for the past three campaigns and were unbeaten with 14 straight wins prior to the Women's Six Nations in April.

They finished 27 points ahead of their play-off opponents in the table but came into the match off the back of consecutive defeats and with a number of key players absent through injury. They went on to lose 29-26 having trailed 24-7 at half-time.

"It's going to take a lot of time to reflect, to sit back and work out what that is and what I can bring as a coaching group and staffing group, what we can bring to next year," Murphy told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

A number of key and long-serving players are set to leave this summer including England captain Zoe Stratford and Red Roses internationals Sarah Beckett and Tatyana Heard, with the trio set to join Sale Sharks next season.

Gloucester-Hartpury's all-time record appearance-maker Rachel Lund is also retiring, along with club stalwarts Ellena Perry and Bianca Blackburn.

"There's a lot of changes in the playing core next year and that's exciting, this group has been together a long time," Murphy said.

"Some players are moving on, some players have really locked in and that's what I'm really excited about.

He added: "We need to take stock, sit back."

Gloucester-Hartpury were missing Stratford, who is pregnant with her first child, as well as scrum-half Natasha Hunt, number eight Alex Matthews, wing Jade Shekells, back-row Kate Williams and full-back Emma Sing all through injury for Sunday's match.

But they still went into the game as overwhelming favourites against Trailfinders, a team that only joined the PWR in 2023.

They took the lead at Kingsholm - again rebranded Queensholm for the match - but conceded four tries, giving themselves what Murphy called "a huge mountain to climb" during the second half.

While they came back through tries from Lund and Georgia Brock, they narrowly lost to miss out on their first final since 2022 and the chance to win a record fourth title - something no team has yet done.

Murphy took over as head coach at the start of this season and said the young players in the side will learn from the experience and come back better players.

"This year's been amazing, I've learned so much, the group have learned so much about each other," Murphy said.

"We've got so many youngsters coming through like Molly Bunker, El Pearce, Georgia Iona getting big game experience. That will sit with them for a long time.

"But next time we're in a position like this - which we will be - we'll have that experience on their side. They're not the ones turning round going, 'what do we do here?', they're the ones [saying] 'this is what we need to do here'.

"They won't recognise that for a while but that's exactly what's happened."