Appleby praises side's fighting spirit
By Harry Scott-Munro
7/3/21
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Head Coach Susie Appleby was left breathing a huge sigh of relief at full-time as her side secured their seventh successive Allianz Premier 15s victory with a pulsating 31-29 victory over Wasps at Twyford Avenue.
A hat-trick from lock McKinley Hunt and a further score from her Canadian international team-mate Taylor Black set the tone for the visitors with four conversions and a penalty from Gabby Cantorna securing their latest success.
“The forwards were absolutely immense today,” said Appleby. “Bimba (Laura Delgado) when she came off the bench was unbelievable and Kate Zackary with the pace she brings (as well.) Ebony (Jefferies,) some of her carries too, there were some really strong individual performances.”
Appleby was also complementary of her centre pairing with Flo Williams playing 13 for the first time and Gabby Cantorna coming up trumps for her side in the crucial moments at the end of the match.
“Flo did alright as well in her first run at 13 and Gabby off the tee scored everything. There were some really good bits amongst what was a really shaky first half but quite an imperious second half performance.”
Appleby was also pleased with the confidence that Cantorna had to opt for the posts at the end of the match.
“It’s really good for me as a coach but, more importantly, it’s good for her as a player and the confidence it gives her,” explained Appleby. “She now knows that she can step in and say ‘give that one to me’ and she can do it. That was a real pressure kick that she put over at the end, but that’s what she trains for with Steeno [Gareth Steenson] so, well done to Steeno and to Gabby.”
The hosts raced into a 22-7 advantage after just 20 minutes, following an inspired performance by their fly-half Meg Jones.
“We gave them two easy tries, but we weren’t really at the races to be honest,” conceded Appleby. “Thankfully, we were still in it at half-time despite making those errors and when we did things well, we scored two tries. Our discipline was going to cost us. Luckily, it got a bit better in the second half, not hugely, but we performed well.”
Trailing 22-14 at the break, Appleby explained that her half time message to her squad was to simply “tighten things up.”
“We didn’t really need to do too much different and then we hoped we could amass some points and turn the game around, which is exactly what happened,” she added.
With just four rounds of the season to go, the Chiefs remain firmly in the hunt for a play-off place. Appleby, though, is keeping her eyes firmly on the next match against Saracens.
“We take every game one at a time, it’s a cliché but it’s true,” she said. “We’ll look back and reflect upon today, work on some things, patch up a few bodies and then we’ve got two weeks’ to prep against one of the form teams in this league and we’ll go again.”