Appleby rues missed opportunity
By Harry Scott-Munro
12/12/20
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Head Coach, Susie Appleby, was left questioning ‘where we let them off’ as her side narrowly went down to Loughborough Lightning 14-7 in their latest Allianz Premier 15s encounter.
In a tight contest, the Chiefs opened the scoring through McKinley Hunt’s converted try, only for the hosts to level matters just before the break when Rhona Lloyd pounced on an Exeter mistake.
England international Emily Scarratt converted that score, plus Loughborough’s second try early in the second half, when Lark Davies found her way over the Chiefs try-line.
“We had opportunities again,” explained Appleby at the final whistle. “It’s the same old story every week, we’re creating opportunities but not quite there quick enough in support and then not quite patient enough to put the phases together.”
Despite the obvious positive of putting a top-quality side under significant pressure again for the second consecutive match, Appleby admits she’s not content with simply challenging the best.
“We don’t want to go toe-to-toe, we want to be beating top teams,” she added. “We’re not accepting just getting close and going ‘nearly.’ It’s going to take little things to make the difference and take us to the next level but, as a squad, we can take those steps.”
In what was a tight contest throughout, with defences well on top, Appleby could still see parts of her side’s game that can still be fine-tuned.
“What we were lacking today was a little bit of smarts in the first half, playing a little bit too much rugby in the first half; we’ve got to get smarter in this league. The wind, use it, don’t overplay in your own half and then, as I said, that’s the main difference between the sides in my opinion.”
Those ‘smarts’ that Appleby referred to also mean taking what’s on offer to you when it’s there. With the clock in the red and with a line-out in the shadow of their own posts, Chiefs opted to run from deep, before a knock-on ultimately ended the contest.
“I can’t knock their desire to play and keep playing, but if we turn the ball over and they score, we’ve lost that bonus point. We want to keep edging up the league and that means taking points at every opportunity possible,” said Appleby.
Even in defeat, there were several incredibly strong performances for the Chiefs, with prop Sachiko Kato turning in a powerhouse performance in her first start since returning from injury - and Appleby was full of praise for the Japanese international.
“Sachi is unbelievable. She’s like a back-row in a prop’s shirt, she’s absolutely brilliant.”
Appleby was also delighted with the performances of a number of other players, as the more experienced players in the side led from the front.
“Patricia Garcia was really strong today. Kate Zackary was class, which she is week in, week out and there were others as well with some really good performances. I thought Lauren Cattell was very good today.”
Looking ahead to the final game before Christmas at home to Sale Sharks next Saturday, Appleby’s message to her squad is to focus on themselves, as fans return to Sandy Park for the first time.
“We’re looking forward to that,” she said. “Although my message to the girls is don’t think about that too much. We need to think about us and our performance but yes, we are really excited about welcoming fans to Sandy Park to watch a women’s game for the very first time and it cannot be overstated how exciting that is.’
Appleby is under no illusion though of the tough contest that will be waiting for her side against this seasons other ‘new’ Premier 15s outfit.
“Sale are a very good side and we’re expecting nothing less than another physical battle.”