Leonard loving life in the Westcountry
By James Fowler
3/2/23
Exeter Chiefs Women’s forward Michaela Leonard says she’s absolutely ‘loving it’ since arriving in Devon following the conclusion of last year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Leonard, who will make her first start for the Chiefs when she runs out at Sandy Park on Saturday to face the DMP Sharks, spoke of how much she has enjoyed her time both on and off the pitch since joining the high-flying Allianz Premier 15s club.
“It’s been awesome so far, coming over here it’s a beautiful part of the country,” said the Wallaroos international. “I’m from a small town back home so it’s nice being somewhere where you can get out into the national parks, you can go for a walk, you’ve got the beach, and then on the other side the girls here at the club, the staff are all incredibly welcoming, incredibly friendly, so it’s been a good transition so far.”
“I’m loving it and I’m loving to see where the next couple of months go.”
One of the most notable aspects of the first half of the regular league season has been how vocal the home Sandy Park crowd has been, and Leonard was keen to emphasise how much she has enjoyed playing in front of such passionate supporters.
“You can hear the way the crowd gets involved with the cheers and the chants. They talk to the players and cheer the players on like they’re someone they know and someone who they come across in the street which is unreal.
“It’s good being in a women’s game where we can have the whole grandstand filled out and supporters getting behind everything we do out there, so it’s good to see.”
Leonard spoke about what a unique experience it has been playing with players from so many different countries, and she was keen to highlight how ‘grateful’ she has been to be part of such an amazingly talented squad.
“I haven’t been on a team so far where we’ve had such a big international roster. We’ve got girls from Canada, America, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, England obviously, and New Zealand,” she added. “I was fortunate enough to have played with Liv McGoverne at Matatū for Super Rugby Aupiki, and to have come across some of the other girls in the Pacific Four and World Cup, but getting to train with players of the calibre who’ve had I guess a wealth of experiences from all over the globe, day in day out throughout the week, that’s something you wouldn’t have come across a lot, and I’m really grateful to be here.”
The Chiefs players could be forgiven for revelling in the enormous attacking prowess they have shown during the first half of the season, racking up a staggering 452 points in just nine league games, at an average of just over 50 points per game. Leonard was keen however to underline just how important defence is to this side, with the Chiefs aiming on Saturday to keep their opponents scoreless for the third game in succession.
“Defence is a massive focus for us and Steve (Salvin) will attest to that pretty strongly as well. For us I think the focus is going into every game respecting our opponents as always, because at the end of the day whoever shows up is going to come away with the result.
“Making sure each and every game we take that opportunity to put into play what we’ve practiced and to maintain and keep building our season coming towards I guess the back half.”
Despite the DMP Sharks sitting bottom of the table on zero points, Leonard says that the Chiefs are expecting nothing less than a tough physical encounter against the side from the North East, who have in recent weeks brought in some big name American signings.
“You show up on the day or you don’t show up on the day and the score will reflect that. They’ve had a few new girls come in from America, and we saw last week against Harlequins that there was quite a bit of a contest throughout that game, so we’re definitely not taking a step back this week, or taking it lightly, we know it’s going to be a tough game, a physical game as well, so we’re going to plan to come out ready for that, and hopefully continue to build on the attack shapes we’ve been putting together over the last few weeks as well.”
The Allianz Premier 15s is fast gaining a reputation as being the most competitive league in elite women’s rugby, with so many world class international players now playing in the league alongside the multitude of talented English players, and Leonard spoke of her motivation for coming over to these shores to play in such a fantastic competition.
“I think even from Australia this year we’ve had probably the most we’ve ever had travel over to be a part of it and I think the biggest draw for that is it’s got that international contingent, it’s got the standard I guess of the English players who we know perform well on the world stage.”
“But I think the other draw card is the length of season, so at the moment if you’re looking down southern hemisphere Super Aupiki and Super W, we’ve got our five round Super seasons which are going really well and are a really strong platform and tournament, but this just gives us an opportunity to I guess play three times that amount of games, get that extra repetition in, maintain that fitness, and play a different style of game as well.”
Leonard continued; “I guess some of the pitches here are a bit heavier a bit slower, bit more about set piece, contact focus, so as a tight five player I guess it’s just that opportunity to add another element to my game.”
Leonard will run out at Sandy Park for the first time when she takes the field on Saturday against the DMP Sharks, and the Australian Lock spoke of how excited she is to perform in front of a home Sandy Park crowd.
“For me this will be my first game out at Sandy Park, so pretty excited to actually experience it from the pitch, not from the stands, and I guess get that energy off the crowd whilst you’re out there on the field and know that we do have a good following that makes the effort to get down here on a weekend, so I guess that little reminder to put in for the whole game and do as well as we can to make sure that they’ve got a good show at the end of the day.”