Chiefs need to be more clinical - Fleming
By James Fowler
25/11/22
Exeter Chiefs Women’s forward Abbie Fleming is hopeful her and team-mates can rediscover their winning formula when they travel to DMP Sharks in their latest Allianz Premier 15s clash on Saturday.
Fresh from featuring for Wales in the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Fleming was a second half replacement as the Chiefs slipped to a 25-17 loss at home to Gloucester-Hartpury in their league opener.
The 26-year-old admitted ‘missed opportunities’ were the key factor in a game she believes the Chiefs could easily have won.
“We’ve reviewed the game and obviously we’re really disappointed as a squad with the result,” she said. “I think it’s a side we could have beaten on the day, but unfortunately we didn’t take the opportunities that we were given.
“We’ve reflected on that as a squad and we’re ready to go into this week slightly better than we were last week.”
When discussing how the Chiefs Women can become more clinical at converting opportunities into points, the Exeter-born forward felt that brining an extra physical edge was going to make the difference moving forward.
“I think for us it’s winning the breakdowns and winning the physicality edge, so we’ve got to really muscle up against our opposite pack and it’s taking the opportunities we’re given.
“The shape works for us and it’s shown to work for us, when it’s on it’s on, we just need to take the opportunities that we get in the game to get the score that we want.”
Whilst away at the World Cup, Chiefs head coach Susie Appleby has blooded a number of talented youngsters in the Allianz Cup and Fleming was keen to speak about the talent that is coming through the Chiefs academy at present, and the opportunities that are now available to younger girls coming up through the ranks.
“We’ve got a really young squad at the moment, it’s great to see so many people, especially some of the young 18 year-olds just coming in through the academy. If this was available when I was that young, then I would have taken the chance to do it, but it’s amazing that it is now for young girls like our girls at academy level.
“The group is really tight, we’re really tight-knit here at Chiefs, so it’s great to come back and be back with everyone again, and we’ve got more to come which is great.”
The Exeter Chiefs Women travel north to face Darlington on Saturday, a side the Chiefs defeated 73-0 in their opening game of the season in the Allianz Cup. However, Fleming says she is expecting ‘a lot of fight’ from this weekend’s opponents.
“We’re expecting a lot of fight. They’re dramatically improving every year. We’re going to go out there full guns blazing and, hopefully, get all the points on the board that we need. Obviously, we’re always fighting for as many points as we can, because we know at the end of the season points really matter, especially to get to a final like we did last year, so we’ll really be fighting for that winning edge this weekend.”
Fleming was also keen to mention how much ‘healthy competition’ there now is for places in every match-day squad for the Chiefs, especially with all the international players combined with the young up and coming stars now available at the club.
“You’ve got players from lots of different backgrounds and lots of different international sides and we all bring in different things that we’ve learnt from our international sides, which makes us great as a team to work together, so actually we bounce off of each other really well.
“And again it’s good to have younger girls in the environment, and it’s good to have slightly more senior players as well who have got lots of experience so actually it’s great to have lots of different characters.”
“There’s always a fight for positions but that’s what keeps you on your toes, and that’s what makes rugby such a great sport, because you’re constantly fighting to get the upper edge and to not just compete against your opponents but your competing against each other as well, which is healthy competition which you would expect in a squad like the Chiefs.”