Team news: Chiefs Women go again to play 100th competitive game

Exeter Chiefs Women have named a largely unchanged side to play their 100th competitive game when they travel to Ealing for tomorrow's PWR game.

Made to wait to the play their landmark fixture after Storm Darragh forced organisers to postpone last weekend’s game against Bristol Bears, Chiefs now face Trailfinders in round 10. It will be Chiefs 83rd league game to add to the 17 cup fixtures already played by the women’s team.

Assistant coach Steve Salvin said: “We were massively disappointed not to play last weekend because a huge amount of work goes into a week’s preparation for any game in the PWR. The players put in a huge amount of emotional and physical toil into their preparation, but it’s a reality of the game and we will play Bristol in the new year. Games of that calibre are important to prepare for a tough end of the season.”

The only change from last week’s 23 is that Taylor Perry has come onto the bench to give her more game time.

This means Chiefs are taking a strong pack with an international front-row of Hope Rogers, Cliodhna Moloney and DaLeaka Menin. Dorothy Wall and captain Poppy Leitch will fill the second row with Rachel Johnson and Maddie Feaunati joining Ebony Jefferies to complete the pack.

Flo Robinson and Liv McGoverne continue their run as the half-back pairing with Alex Tessier and Nancy McGillivray in the centre, Sabrina Poulin and Katie Buchanan in the wing berths, and Merryn Doidge at full-back.

Salvin continued: “If we had played last weekend, it is probable there could have been a few changes to the team. It’s hard though because players were selected for last week and through no fault of their own, the opportunity was taken away. As we did not play, we felt it was appropriate, in most cases, to stick with what we had.”

Chiefs will need all their defensive wits about them as they head to the Trailfinders Sports Ground for a 12noon kick-off tomorrow. The Ealing women scored five winning tries against Sale Sharks last weekend to see them in sixth place.

Try-scorer Abby Dow made the most metres with 131 in round nine. Teammate Julia Schell made three line breaks while, in her first appearance since October, Abi Burton scored three tries.

Salvin, who’s in charge of the women’s defence, added: “We have been going pretty well this season but Ealing have so much pace in Julia Schell, Abby Dow and Chloe Rollie. Take into consideration that we are playing on a 4G pitch and that increases the speed of the game too. We have got to be good in all areas of our game this week.”

Chiefs still top the table despite the missed game with their defensive record one of the factors that has helped them to their unbeaten run.

“One of the things that’s changed for us this season is that we have got a little more depth in the squad this year,” said Salvin. “Last season, the team was conceding a lot of points at the end of games when we did not have that same level of depth.

“Our job is the easy bit. The players execute the plan. But because we now have a squad with more depth, we can execute our defensive system far better.”

Chiefs Women will kick-off at 12noon tomorrow at Trailfinders Sports Ground. The game is being streamed live in Trailfinders YouTube channel.

Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Merryn Doidge
14 Sabrina Poulin
13 Nancy McGillivray
12 Alexandra Tessier
11 Katie Buchanan
10 Liv McGoverne
9 Flo Robinson (vc)
1 Hope Rogers
2 Cliodhna Moloney
3 DaLeaka Menin
4 Poppy Leitch (c)
5 Dorothy Wall
6 Ebony Jefferies
7 Maddie Feaunati
8 Rachel Johnson

16 Emily Tuttosi
17 Mikiela Nelson
18 Charli Jacoby
19 Linde van der Velden
20 Niamh Orchard
21 Lucy Nye
22 Taylor Perry
23 Lori Cramer