Chiefs Women to face Gloucester-Hartpury
By Mark Stevens
2/6/23
Steve Salvin insists his Exeter Chiefs Women side are ‘raring to go’ ahead of tomorrow’s crunch Allianz Premier 15s trip to leaders Gloucester-Hartpury (2pm).
With the hosts already assured of home advantage in next week’s semi-finals, the Chiefs will be hoping to follow suit when they tackle the Cherry & Whites at the Alpas Arena.
Victory on the road for the Devonians will ensure they take the other home berth in the play-offs, where reigning champions Saracens will provide the opposition.
However, should they come unstuck and Saracens prevail at Loughborough, it will be the Londoners who will welcome the Chiefs to the Stone-X on Sunday week.
Just where the semi-final will take place is all for the future and Salvin is instead focusing his thoughts on toppling a strong Gloucester-Hartpury outfit, who have lost just once in the league to date.
“When we saw the fixtures we had a sneaking suspicion that it may come down to this last game,” said Salvin. “To be honest, it’s not come as a huge shock to us to find ourselves in this position. Obviously, we’re disappointed that we had those two losses [against Saracens and Bristol] before the Wasps game last week, but that game allowed us to regenerate some momentum again and now we find ourselves in a massive game at the weekend with a huge amount to play for.”
Salvin underlined just how important gaining home advantage will be for the Chiefs when he spelt out the statistic that no side in Premier 15s history has won an away semi-final before.
“That shows how significant it is to get a home semi-final,” added the assistant coach. “Susie [Appleby] summed it up pretty well this week when she said we have to treat these next three games like a quarter-final, a semi-final and, hopefully, a final.
“How both sides go into this weekend is a little different. They are in a slightly different place to us in that they know they have a home semi-final next week. Everything is set in stone for them, whereas we are more up in the air and we know we have to win. For us, though, it’s never a challenge to get the girls in the right emotional place, they do that very well themselves.
“Whether it’s Wasps last week or Gloucester this week, the group is excited and they are raring to go. We know Gloucester are an excellent side and they recruited very well in the off season, bringing in some big players, especially in the forwards. You don’t win 16 our of 17 league game unless you are a very good side.
“That said, it doesn’t mean they don’t have any chinks in their armoury. There are things we know we can attack and things we can go after them with. We’ve played them twice already this season, the first game was on the opening day when both sides were fairly depleted with people away at the World Cup, the other was in the Cup where we won another tight game.
“In all the time I’ve been here at the club, we’ve always had tough, tight games against them and this weekend will be no different. It’ll be another nail-biter for sure.”
The Chiefs will be buoyed by the return of three key internationals to their match-day squad for tomorrow’s clash. In the pack, Hope Rogers returns from her two-week suspension to reclaim her spot at loosehead, while on the bench Linde van der Velden and Edel McMahon are also included.
On the downside, forwards DeLeaka Menin and Abbie Fleming both miss out due to concussions picked up in the Wasps game, so American international Charli Jacoby takes over from Menin with former Gloucester player Maisy Allen replacing Fleming in the back-row.
“We’re missing one or two with bumps and bruises, but that’s to be expected at this stage of the season,” added Salvin. “On the plus side, we’ve got a few returning to the fray and we also managed to get some really good game minutes into a few others last weekend.
“As I said, we’re excited for the weekend. If we get it right, we get a home semi-final, if we don’t then we’ll be on the road. It’s as simple as that!”
