Chiefs Women to face Loughborough
By James Fowler
24/2/23
“Satisfactory without being exceptional,”’ was how Exeter Chiefs Assistant Coach Steve Salvin described his side’s 57-5 Allianz Premier 15s victory over the Worcester Warriors last weekend.
That statement alone is a clear indication of just how far this Chiefs side have come in such a short space of time, with huge victories over top sides such as Worcester still not fully satisfying the ever-increasing standards of Salvin and Head Coach Susie Appleby.
One of the most notable aspects of the win was the fact the Chiefs conceded their first points in over 320 minutes of rugby, when Worcester’s Canadian winger Paige Farries crossed the whitewash in the first half of that encounter.
However, Salvin admitted that there was a slight bit of relief at his team conceding a rare try, saying: “I had told the girls that if we kept another clean sheet I’ve got to get a hair cut of their choice, so in that regard I’m not too disappointed.”
Speaking on a more serious level, Salvin spoke about the effects a rare misfiring line-out had on the Chiefs performance, particularly in the first half.
“The line-out didn’t function as well as we would like it to,” he said. “That’s often something we can rely on really heavily and that didn’t function quite as well as normal and that sort of had a bit of an impact on both our ability to attack and then the pressure that put on us defensively.
“Obviously, having had three clean sheets over the three previous games was great, but we knew at some point we were going to concede some points so it’s not the end of the world, far from it.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s against the Loughborough Lightning at Sandy Park (3pm), Salvin was keen to emphasise just how much learning was taken from the defeat suffered by the same opponents last season at Franklin’s Gardens, and he says he’s expecting another tough challenge from the side from the East Midlands.
“We played them last year at Franklin’s Gardens and it was probably one of our most memorable games from last year,” he added. “We actually lost the game, but it was a really important game for us in terms of making some adaptations to help us improve. We’re expecting a similar sort of game this weekend.
“They’ve got some exceptional players and they’re exceptionally well coached as well, so for us to get a result down here and continue that winning run we’re going to have to make sure we put onto the field what we’ve been doing at training this week, because the training has been really good and if we can transfer that onto Sandy Park this weekend, then we give ourselves a good chance of getting a result. That said, we’re not taking anything for granted, we know how tough this is going to be.”
In what has already been a long season with a Rugby World Cup at the beginning of it, there are inevitably going to be players suffering from bumps and knocks, however Salvin was keen to praise the Chiefs attentive medical team who have helped keep the players in the best possible condition despite the tough fixture list.
“Let’s take into consideration a lot of these players played a World Cup and then they came straight back into a Premiership season, so they’ve played a lot of very high intensity, high pressure rugby, so it’s going to take an emotional toll on them, but it’s also going to take a physical toll on them.
“We have nothing hugely concerning, it’s just that players are banged up, but that’s normal for this time of year, and what we have got is a really good medical staff around us, so they’ll look after the players and make sure that they’re in the best possible nick they can be for the weekend. So there’s a little bit of management, but the one thing I’ll say for the players is that they’re tough and they’re resilient and they’re robust and they’ll do whatever they can to get themselves on the field.”
With the Chiefs back at Sandy Park, Salvin says he’s looking forward to seeing yet another big home crowd get behind the team, and he reflected further about how much the squad have been inspired by playing in front of such a loyal support base.
“It feels like we’re getting a bit of a following. I think when I first came down here it felt a little bit like it was maybe the men’s team had gone away so some supporters would come down and watch the women’s games, but it feels a little bit more now like we’ve got some more die-hard fans, which is amazing and the numbers that they come in I would imagine makes us one of the best attended women’s teams in the league, if not the best, and the girls absolutely thrive off it.
“The fact that we’re winning I think give us a bit of an edge as well. It’s always nice to support a team that’s winning, but having that extra support from the fans gives you an extra edge in terms of continuing to win, so if we can help each other out in that regard that would be brilliant.”
