Women's 2022/23 fixtures confirmed
By Mark Stevens
17/8/22
Exeter Chiefs Women will kick-off the new 2022/23 Allianz Premier 15s season with a mouth-watering clash against Gloucester-Hartpury.
Susie Appleby’s side will entertain their Westcountry rivals at Sandy Park on Saturday, November 19.
In what is the stand-out fixture for the opening weekend of the new campaign, Appleby acknowledges it’s the “perfect test” for her side, who last season came runners-up to Saracens Women in the final played at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium.
“It’s a great first fixture,” said Appleby. “We want to start with a tough one, purely because it will give us a good gauge of where we are. Gloucester have recruited very well over the summer, bringing in an abundance of international players.
“Who will play that opening game, we just don’t know at this stage, but what we do know is we will have a massive encounter first up. They’ll be very physical, they have quality players across the squad, and I know they still feel a bit hard done by for us beating them up at their place last season. In a lot of ways it’s the perfect test for us first up.”
The visit of Gloucester-Hartpury, however, is not the only test for the Chiefs, who themselves have recruited impressively during the off season with a glut of new faces coming into the squad.
With confirmation that DMP Sharks will be able to take up their place in the 10-strong league, Appleby is predicting another strong year of domestic action.
“To be honest, the league is getting so competitive now,” added Appleby. “There are massive fixtures every week to look forward to and it’ll be up to us to get up to speed as quickly as we can.
“Although we’re missing quite a few of the squad at the moment for pre-season due to the Rugby World Cup, those that are here training are really fronting up and putting in the hard work, which is fantastic.
“Having Steve [Salvin] here as well, getting his first, full pre-season under his belt is also helping massively. It’s great for our younger players to get his full attention and understand what we want from them.
“Getting that detailed input into the players now is the crux of things because they are the ones who are going to drive this first part of the season.”
Before the Chiefs kick-off their Allianz Premier 15s campaign, they will begin the defence of their Allianz Cup crown with a trip to DMP Sharks on Saturday, September 17.
The opening five weeks of the season are dominated with Cup fixtures as squads across the country will be without a number of their international stars due to the Rugby World Cup, which gets underway in New Zealand on October 8 and runs through until November 12.
