I'm reading through Dune Chapterhouse at the moment and having some trouble understanding the strength of the Honored Matres compared to the Bene Gesserit and Duncan.

In Dune Heretics the BG show their superiority to the Honored Matre a couple of times, for example when Lucila beat-up an Honored Matre (i think it was Morbella(sp?))without much difficulty.

Furthermore, Duncan Idaho possessed superhuman speed and strength that surpassed even the BG and at this stage Duncan was still very young.

And yet in Dune Chapterhouse, all the BG a crapping themselves because the Honoured Matres are kicking their butts and Duncan's superhuman powers don't seem to exist anymore.

Am i missing something or is this just a consistency issue?