Allen steals the headlines with hat-trick
By James Fowler
28/2/23
Exeter flanker Maisy Allen said she was ‘really pleased’ with her side’s victory over the Loughborough Lightning on Saturday, as the Chiefs racked up their 11th straight bonus point victory to maintain their position at the top of the Allianz Premier 15s.
Not for the first time this season, Susie Appleby’s side showed their might, both in attack and defence, bagging seven tries in total. Prop Hope Rogers added yet another brace to the two she scored against Worcester last week, while Rachel Johnson and captain Poppy Leitch also managed to cross the whitewash.
The plaudits, however, all went to Allen as the England Under-20s back-rower secured herself a hat-trick of tries to underline why she’s considered one of the brightest young talents in English rugby.
Reflecting on the victory, Allen spoke of her pride at being able to secure back-to-back wins against the East Midlanders.
“We’re all really pleased, we knew it was going to be a tough game them coming down, so to be able to get the win at theirs and then win again at home is really good for us,” she said.
Reflecting on her try-scoring exploits, the typically modest Allen was keen to praise the work of her team-mates in creating the opportunities for her to score.
“If you look at them, they’re all pick-and-goes, so everyone else does the hard work. Brooke (Bradley) travelled about 20 metres on her own and I got the dot down, so we can give that one to her.”
With the physical nature of the sport there are unfortunately always going to be players going down with knocks and niggles and Allen spoke about how pleased she is to be back out on the field playing following a recent shoulder injury which kept her out of some big games at the beginning of the year.
“It’s nice to get back playing at home, especially after I was out with a shoulder injury for a few weeks, so it’s just great to be back in front of the fans and playing. I just love playing.”
Reflecting on the fitness of the squad after what has been a full-on campaign, Allen spoke about the work of the Chiefs medical team, as well as the strength in depth available within the squad, which she believes has helped contribute to keeping the squad fresh and raring to go.
“I was managed really well by the physios and rehab crew, so it’s really good for that, but then coming back in we’ve got so much strength in the squad that even if someone did take a knock we’ve got people to come in. For the Wasps and DMP games that we had just before the break we got a lot of rotation in so that was good for managing bodies as well.”
It was yet another strong defensive performance from the Chiefs, with just one try and five points conceded. That remarkably means that in the last five games the Chiefs have only conceded 10 points, at an average of two points per game, and Allen was only too keen to highlight how proud she is of the way the defence keeps fronting up.
“The place in the table that they (Loughborough) are doesn’t sort of reflect their performance and the players that they have, and they’re really strong, so we knew that it was going to be a battle, but especially that bit of defence at the end of the first half where they were on our five-metre line and we managed to keep them out was I think a really big moment in the match.”
Allen has really established herself as being a key cog within what has been a mightily impressive Chiefs back-row this season, and the player who originally hails from Dorset was keen to praise her fellow colleagues, whom she believes compliment each other exceptionally well.
“They (Johnson & Edel McMahon) are absolute nutters, they bring so much energy and aggression and it’s great to play alongside players like that.”
There is no doubting the belief that is oozing out of this Chiefs squad, however Allen emphasised how important it will be for the squad to remain focused with some enormous games still left to play.
“We know how important this next block of games is, playing top of the table sides we can’t knock off, and they’re all a battle, but if we want to get to the final we’ve got to keep pushing and keep pushing and that’s what we’re doing, so hopefully we can keep our foot down, but it’s going well at the moment.”
Despite her clear excitement at the prospect of facing Harlequins at Twickenham this weekend, Allen was keen to make sure the side prepare well and treat it as just any other game despite what will no doubt be an enormous occasion.
“I think we’re all buzzing. Susie (Appleby) has just told us to keep calm, but it’s a big occasion but like I said it’s another game. It’s really special for a lot of us, but we’ve got to get the job done, we’ve got to prep the same, the week’s training, the travel up, we’re going to be there overnight, so that always changes it a little bit, but hopefully we can get a good performance again, and we’ll see where we go.”