Chiefs Women to face Harlequins
By James Fowler
16/12/22
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Assistant Coach Steve Salvin says his side have ‘exceeded expectations’ during the last three weeks to put themselves firmly amongst the frontrunners in this season’s Allianz Premier 15s.
Victories over DMP Sharks, Worcester Warriors and, last weekend, Loughborough Lightning have put the Devonians second in the standings, behind unbeaten leaders Gloucester-Hartpury.
This weekend, however, Salvin and his team can expect a huge challenge when they take on Harlequins, buoyed by the return of their stars from the Rugby World Cup, in Round 5 at Sandy Park (1.30pm).
“The last three weeks we’ve probably slightly exceeded our expectations really, so we’re really pleased with where we have been,” said Salvin. “We think we’re in a good place going into this weekend, but we are really mindful that Quins' is by someway going to be the biggest test that we’ve had.
“We expect them to have all their World Cup players back in and that’s obviously going to strengthen them significantly. They’re also in pretty good form anyway, so it’s going to be a proper game this weekend.”
Speaking about having to adapt to the freezing conditions that have gripped the country this week, Salvin added; “With the weather this week we’ve had to adapt training slightly in terms of the timing we’ve had on the field, or where we’ve trained, not that it’s caused any upset or anything like that, it’s just being mindful that we’ve had to adapt a little bit.”
Salvin spoke further about how delighted he has been with the side’s clinical attack over the last few weeks, with the Chiefs having remarkably racked over 200 points during the last three games.
“We’ve been clinical the last two games and that’s probably been the most pleasing thing,” he added. “When we have got down there (to the opposition 22), we seem to be consistently coming away scoring tries, and we want to be a team that wins games by scoring tries, and what’s good is we’re scoring tries in different ways, be it through highly skilled attacking play, be it through the driving game, be it through kick pressure, and I think that bodes well.”
With such a strong squad at the coach’s disposal, there has been some difficult decisions to make with regards to selection, and this is something Salvin is keen to make sure is managed well, so that all players feel fully a part of the squad.
“We have got strength in depth and there’s huge value in that, but we’ve also got to try and make sure that if players aren’t playing, they do still feel a part of it and they don’t feel disconnected from it,” he said.
“There will be some movement from within the 23 on a fairly consistent basis, because we do want to make sure everyone’s as close to being active as they possibly can.
“Gabby Senft is back with us, Michaela Leonard’s come in, and as things stand, they’ve not got an opportunity to come into a match-day squad and there’s others I could mention. But they will get opportunities and then we’ll get a better sense of where perhaps the more natural pecking order starts to sit in each position.”
Salvin was keen to pay tribute to the three players who made their 50th appearance for the club in the victory over Loughborough Lightning last weekend, Ebony Jefferies, Merryn Doidge and captain Poppy Leitch. Of particular importance to Salvin was the fact that all three players are from the region and promoting more local talent into the Chiefs ranks is something the coach sees as a big focus moving forward.
“The most significant thing is they’re three local girls,” he continued. “A lot of work has gone in behind the scenes to try and put a pathway in place to bring local talent through and you’re seeing that now with the girls that have played, not just in that Cup period, but also in the league games as well.
“Ebony, Poppy and Merryn have been real main-stays, certainly in the time I’ve been with the club, and obviously since the club (Chiefs Women) started, and all three of them deserve a massive amount of credit for what they’ve achieved.
“They’re there every week, almost without exception. All three of them are playing exceptionally well, and I think the exciting bit is probably that all three of them have got a fairly significant improvement in them as well, so really good for the club and really good that it’s three local girls that have achieved it.”
