Chiefs Women to face Saracens
By Mark Stevens
12/5/23
Exeter Chiefs Women are readying themselves for their ‘biggest test’ of the season so far, so says assistant coach Steve Salvin ahead of Sunday’s Allianz Premier 15s clash at the Stonex Stadium (2:30pm).
With their place in the end of season play-offs already assured, the Chiefs will head to the capital looking not only to inflict a hammer blow on the reigning champions, but also all but secure home advantage for when the last four ties kick into play next month.
Already this season the Chiefs have toppled their hosts twice in competitive action. The first was back in January when they won 37-19 in the league; the second was just a fortnight ago when they won 29-19 to retain the Allianz Cup.
This time, however, Salvin expects the stakes to be much higher, particularly with both sides fully loaded for what should be a mouth-watering encounter between two of the game’s leading lights.
“It’s the champions away from home, it’s the biggest game of the season,” he said. “We’ve had two massive games against them already this season, the cup final in particular was an unbelievable game!
“Although both sides were missing some frontline players that day, I know some of our girls came off saying that was as tough a game as we have played in. This weekend is another massive game. I wouldn’t say it’s season-defining as such, nor will it play a huge role in who goes on to win. That said, it’s an opportunity for both sides to lay down a marker, get a performance and put in what you’d call a statement win.”
Certainly the Chiefs have demonstrated this season that they are hell-bent on going one step further than last season when they were undone by Sarries in the Premier 15s final at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium.
Other than a narrow opening day loss to Gloucester-Hartpury, they have since recorded 13 successive bonus point wins to sit proudly at the summit of the table, ten points clear of Sunday’s hosts.
Salvin says those victories, coupled with the club retaining the Allianz Cup, mean the feel-good factor around the Chiefs camp is buoyant as they head towards the business end of the season.
“Winning games of rugby builds momentum,” added Salvin. “Before the break for the league we were flying, which was great. However, winning those two big games in the cup as well means we’ve kept that buzz about the place and that a lot of the squad have contributed.
“If I’m honest, I think winning the cup this year was a bigger achievement than last year. If you look at last year, we were fully loaded in terms of the team. We had all the Canadians, Americans, Japanese, South Africans, all available to us, so we were kind of expected to win it last year.
“This year, we were far from expected to win it and the pool games kind of backed that up. We lost at home to Worcester in the first one, quite rightly, and then we sneaked a win up at Gloucester in the final ten minutes, so we were hopeful, rather than optimistic, of our chances this time round.
“That said, I thought in the semi-final at Bristol and again in the final against Saracens, the girls really stood up and put in two terrific performances. It wasn’t just the senior girls, young players like Danny Preece, Katie Buchanan, even Niamh Orchard coming off the bench, they were exceptional.
“As a group, they’ve now got that experience of not only playing in semi-finals and finals, but they know how to cope with big games and how to win important matches like that. That’s huge for us moving forward and great for us building towards the future.”
