Leicester Tigers Women's team pushed an experienced Sale Sharks side all the way in a game of two halves at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
In only Tigers' third official women's fixture, Leicester had the momentum at the half-time break on Saturday, leading 17-7. But Sale, who compete in the top flight of domestic women's rugby, showed their experience to claw their way back and eventually secure a 42-22 victory.
Tigers had two scores in the opening 10 minutes, both scored by scrum-half Sophie Richards.
Fly-half Abi Gordon added a conversion and just seven minutes later the score was extended by another five points as Richards completed her hat-trick, pouncing on a loose ball on the tryline to give Tigers a 17-point lead.
An organised Leicester side managed to keep the Sharks at bay until the 38th minute when Sale got themselves back into the game with their opening try, and the conversion was added on the stroke of half-time.
There were multiple changes to both teams at the break as players looked to get game minutes under their belts and Sale took just four minutes to begin their comeback with another score, though Tigers weren't going to roll over.
Richards scored her fourth on a memorable day for the scrum-half with the final points for the home side as Sharks showed their Premier 15s quality and grew in confidence as the tries started to mount up in the final third of the game.
Tigers, though, fought until the very end in another important afternoon in the team's short history.
Family, friends and supporters welcomed players from both sides in the North Stand post-match as Tigers took another step in their development in the women's game.
There is more women's rugby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Sunday, April 24 (12.00pm) when defending champions England host Ireland in the Women's Six Nations. Match tickets are available now at the Tigers ticket office. Book online or phone 0116 319 8888 (option 2).
