Exeter Chiefs 45 Loughborough Lightning 5

The Chiefs started strongly in the second half and it wasn’t long before Rogers was storming over for her second, before Allen did likewise. Not done there, captain Poppy Leitch picked a nice line to dot down for the Chiefs sixth, before Allen had the final say, claiming a hat-trick score as she pounced following a nice break from replacement scrum-half Brooke Bradley.

In front of yet another healthy home crowd, the Chiefs seemed early on to lack the energy which has been so evident throughout the most part of the season. Despite this, the Chiefs did eventually find their groove and they were eventually rewarded in the 19th minute through Rogers, their sensational, free-scoring American prop, as she barged her way over from a couple of metres out, in an act which is becoming all to familiar for the Chiefs Premier 15s rivals.

The hosts second of the afternoon came just a few minutes later when the hugely exciting England Under-20s flanker Allen ran a sublime line off McGoverne to burst through the gap and sprint in unopposed.

With the Chiefs now looking like they had really found their groove, handling errors and ill discipline costs them and Loughborough made sure they took full advantage, Red Roses forward Kabeya coming up with the ball following a strong, close-range catch-and-drive maul, which the Chiefs simply had no answers to.

With the bonus point now in the bag, the shackles could really be let off the Chiefs attack, however some handling errors at key times and some strong determined defence from the visitors really made life difficult for the hosts. The Chiefs did eventually manage to work through the phases, and when they were held up just short, Allen was once again in the right place at the right time, as she added a second to her tally.

A string of replacements by both sides seemed to halt any sort of momentum for the Chiefs, however after more sustained attack inside the Loughborough 22, replacement Bradley produced a perfectly timed pass to her skipper Leitch, who was able to dive over for the Chiefs sixth, much to the delight of the captain's team-mates and the fantastic home supporters.

There was to be one final flourish for the Chiefs and yet again it was sparked by Bradley, as she used some wonderful footwork to break clear from a quick tap penalty, only to be tacked less than a metre out from the Loughborough line. However, Allen was once again on hand to pick up from the base and dot down to secure herself a well deserved hat-trick.

The Chiefs will now march on to next week's Big Game at Twickenham where it will be another an enormous test of their title ambitions against Harlequins.

Chiefs: M Doidge (L Cramer 65); E Sinclair, K Zackary, G Cantorna, C MacDonald, L McGoverne (R Wilkins 61), F Robinson (B Bradley 71); H Rogers (A Middlebrooke 61), C Moloney (C Nielson 56) D Menin (L Hanlon 67), N Fryday (L Van Der Velden 52) P Leitch (capt); E McMahon (E Jefferies 52), M Allen, R Johnson.