Match Reaction - Steve Salvin

By Mark Stevens
4/2/23

Steve Salvin was full of praise for his Exeter Chiefs Women’s side as they wrapped up their latest block of fixtures in the Allianz Premier 15s with a resounding 61-0 victory over lowly DMP Sharks.

The Chiefs have produced a flawless run of five bonus point victories in as many weeks to leave themselves just three adrift of leaders Gloucester-Hartpury.

In front of another bumper Sandy Park crowd, the Chiefs were in fine fettle, both in attack and defence, scoring tries through Clara Nielson, Claudia MacDonald, Ebony Jefferies, Kate Zackary, Cliodhna Moloney, Nancy McGillivray, Rachel Johnson (2) and Gabby Cantorna, who also kicked eight conversions.

Despite a scrappy first half in which they led only 14-0, the Devonians were just too strong for a Sharks outfit that remain pointless from nine starts this season.

“It was a bit scrappy, but that’s probably a culmination of a tough five weeks,” said assistant coach Salvin at the final whistle. “The huge positive of that five five weeks is that we have 25 points. If you had offered us that on the field before the Sale game, the first of those five games, we would have taken that.

“I’ll be honest, today was bitty, messy and clunky at times, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s another five points, 25 in total, so the girls deserve massive credit for that.”

With the Chiefs set for a week off before they resume league duties at Worcester on the 18th of this month, Salvin feels it’s a good time to recharge the batteries and ready themselves for what will be another big block of fixtures.

“We’re happy with where we are because it puts us nicely in place for that business end,” he said. “We’re in decent form, but at the same time it’s still just the beginning of February and we have a long way between now and the end of the season. Lots can change in that time, both in terms of form and fitness, but we’re in a good place and hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”

Winless for the past two seasons, the Sharks were never expected to upset the apple cart at Sandy Park. However, a number of new additions have helped to strengthen their cause and Salvin warned pre-game that he expected a much tougher challenge from the visitors.

As it played out, the Sharks were much improved and were praised by the Exeter coach, who added: “You have to give Darlington some credit. We said in the week that we weren’t going to take them lightly and we knew they would be physical and come with a good attack game.What they also offered was a real solidness in their defence and it took us a while to break that down.

“At half time, we just said we felt we were about 10% off our normal levels and in games if you’re like that, it can make a significant impact. Second half, I thought we got back to more acceptable levels and we saw the benefits of that later in the game.

“Now, as I said, we’ve got a week off, we’ll rest up and then we will look to go again when we go to Worcester.”