Chiefs Women to face Bristol Bears
By James Fowler
20/1/23
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Assistant Coach Steve Salvin says he’s expecting his side to face an ‘immensely tough’ battle when they take on Westcountry neighbours Bristol Bears at Sandy Park on Sunday (2.30pm).
This weekend’s tussle follows the exceptional victory over reigning Allianz Premier 15s champions Saracens last Saturday, a game which thrilled and captivated the Sandy Park crowd of just over 2,000 and has led to enormous interest in this remarkable Chiefs side, who it is easy to forget are just in their third season of existence.
Reflecting on that sensational performance, Salvin said he was ‘over the moon’ with the way his side performed.
“It was a really good five points and performance to go with the result, so it was a really pleasing day,” he said. “I think what’s really important now is we do recognise Saturday was never going to define our season or Saracens’ season, it was just about winning on the day and fortunately we were able to do that. You know, we did that last season and obviously we came unstuck in the final, so we’re not naïve enough to think that result at the weekend means anything more than a good five points.
“We’re very conscious that this weekend is going to be equally as tough and what comes three or four months down the line will play out as it will. Having said all that, we were over the moon to get a really special performance.”
Despite his clear delight at the result from last weekend, Salvin was keen to emphasise how much further room for development he believes there is from this incredibly talented squad.
“We felt most aspects of the game were good, so our attack, our defence, our set-piece, our kick game all functioned pretty well, but I said this after the game, as good as those areas were, the most exciting bit was that we still felt there was room for improvement and room for development.
“We’re not naïve enough to think that we can’t continue to improve and that’s exactly what we’ll push to do and I think everyone in this environment feels exactly the same.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s game – in what is a repeat of last season’s dramatic Premier 15s semi-final in which the Chiefs secured the victory right at the death – Salvin is only too aware of the attacking threats that the Bears will bring.
“If it’s anything like the game we played against them last season, it’s going to be immensely tough,” he warned. “Bizarrely, we played them on two consecutive Saturdays down here in the last regular season game and then the semi-final, and both of those games could very conceivably have gone either way, so we’re expecting the same thing this weekend.
“I think they are an unbelievably good attacking team. They have areas of the field where they seem to be able to do things that other teams in the league aren’t able to do, so we’re going to have to be right on our metal defensively this weekend to get a result. That doesn’t mean they’re not a tough team to have a battle against up front, they absolutely are and there’s other elements of their game that are really strong, but when I see them I see an attacking DNA running through them, and as I said if you’re not right on your metal defensively against them they have the ability to cut you up, so that’s where we’ve got to be good this weekend.”
Back-rower Maisy Allen has become an influential part of this Chiefs team since arriving from Gloucester-Hartpury ahead of last season, however the England Under-20s star will unfortunately be absent for the Bristol game having picked up a knock. Salvin nevertheless believes that with the quality of the squad now available for himself and Head Coach Susie Appleby to pick from, there won’t be a drop in quality.
“Disappointed for Maisy (Allen) because she missed the Sale game because of (England) Under-20s selection which obviously we were over the moon with. She came back in for the Saracens game and played exceptionally well, and then obviously she misses this weekend with a slight knock to her shoulder.
“That said, we are immensely fortunate that Tricky (Edel McMahon) comes into the team and Gabby Senft comes onto the bench, so we don’t see a drop in quality there, which again just shows the value of having a really strong deep squad which we’ve certainly got.
“It’s great that Tricky (McMahon) will get an opportunity because she’s been playing really well before Christmas and good to see Gaby on the bench and she’ll bring really quality off the bench.”
One of the most memorable memories from last Saturday’s win was just how noisy and passionate the home Sandy Park crowd were, and Salvin was only too keen to talk about how special he feels their support is.
“It feels like we’re building a bit of a following which is really special for the women’s team down here to get that,” he said “I had a conversation with a guy in the crowd that had never been to a game last year and the fact he had come out made the effort and brought his kids down to the game I thought was really special.
“It feels like there’s several other people doing that same thing, and they seem to be really enjoying it, and hopefully if we can continue to perform at that level they’ll continue to come back and hopefully there’ll be a few more.
“I’ve always said, it’s not just the numbers it’s the amount of noise that they make that makes it so special and I would ask that they come and do it again this weekend because it does make a real difference.”
