Warriors Women battled hard but fell to a 47-10 defeat at Wasps FC in their first Tyrrells Premier 15s match of the season.
Vicky Foxwell had given the visitors the lead with an early penalty but last season’s semi-finalists Wasps showed their class to claim their first win of the season.
Warriors were the better side for much of the first-half but handling errors restricted their ability to put pressure on the Wasps line.
Foxwell’s third-minute penalty gave the visitors a lead they defended well, with their hosts playing defence for the majority of the first quarter.
Warriors went looking for more but despite several breaks deep into Wasps’ territory, they could not find the final pass to get them over the whitewash.
Both sides’ set-pieces were working well and it was from a lineout maul that Wasps got their first try of the afternoon on the half-hour mark, with Hannah West benefiting from a strong drive.
Lizzie Goulden’s conversion was good but she was unable to slot through the posts nine minutes later when Wasps’ maul again produced a try.
Warriors were competing well from the restarts but after Wasps turned the ball over Gemma Rowland cut through the Warriors defence to score a converted try just before half-time.
The visitors did their best to search for a way back into the game after the break but handling errors again affected their ability to gain momentum.
And after getting penalised at the breakdown, Cliodoha Maloney provided the finish to a well-worked line-out move which Florence Williams converted.
Wasps then started to put the pressure on, with Warriors doing their best to stand firm but the hosts did breakthrough the visiting defence 15 minutes after the interval when Sarah Michleson found a gap.
Her try was converted but it was Warriors who then found a way back into the match. After a succession of scrums, Carys Cox made a fantastic break to provide replacement Ffion Lewis with a simple finish.
Fellow sub Mary-Ann Gittings provided the extras but almost immediately Wasps took the game out of reach.
Maloney claimed her brace after another powerful maul, with Williams converting.
Warriors then made a number of last-ditch tackles to prevent Wasps from claiming more tries but the resistance was finally broken five minutes from time by Lucy Nye for the final try of the game.