Chiefs Women to face Worcester Warriors

By Mark Stevens
23/9/22

Exeter Chiefs Women’s coach Steve Salvin says he’s delighted that some of the club’s up-and-coming youngsters are getting their chance to shine on the big stage during this season’s Allianz Cup.

With 17 of the club’s squad away getting ready for the Rugby World Cup and a handful of others still sidelined with injuries, Salvin - together with head coach Susie Appleby - have put together a healthy mix of youth and experience for the opening stages of their Cup defence.

Last weekend it began with a bang as they thumped DMP Sharks 73-0 in Darlington and tomorrow it will continue again with the visit of Worcester Warriors to Sandy Park (3pm).

Exeter’s 11-try showing was certainly impressive, given it was their opening game of the new season, but it was other aspects of their performance that gave Salvin plenty of encouragement moving forward.

“It was a nice start and one with lots of positives,” he said. “Obviously, we’ve got lots of players away with the World Cup and others coming back from injury, but that’s meant as coaches we been able to invest a lot more time into others within the squad. For some of the younger players especially, it’s been massive for their development, because often when we have a full compliment it may feel to them that they are not quite part of it.

“What this long pre-season has done is allow us to work with those players and introduce them into that thinking of what it takes to get to the next stage in their development. What we’ve seen is a significant improvement and that’s fantastic for us.”

Certainly the Chiefs demonstrated last week that the hard work is paying dividends.

“It was out first hit out and we were a bit rusty in areas, but that’s to be expected,” added Salvin. “I have to give a shout out to DMP Sharks, who have had a tough pre-season, but the biggest compliment I can give them is that they were willing to fight throughout last season.

“Now, we’ve got Worcester this weekend, another club facing a few off-field problems. Personally, I’ve got a soft spot for them because I worked there for a bit and I’ve still got friends there. Hopefully, things will sort themselves out and they’ll get back to where they want to be.

“Right now, we have to prepare for them and what I know is it will be a very tough test this weekend. They’re a good side, very well coached, and they are coming into the game on the back of a very good win over Harlequins last week. I’m expecting them to be a lot tougher this year, particularly around the set-piece, and when you look outside of that, they have some very powerful strike runners out in the backs.”

Equally, the Chiefs themselves will be a tough nut to crack and spurred on by a crowd of what could be 5,000 fans, Salvin wants his players to make the most of home advantage.

“The fans were amazing last year,” he continued. “It wasn’t just the numbers we had, but it was the noise they made. We’ve all sat in stadiums and there have been big crowds, but no real atmosphere. That wasn’t the case last year and it’s down to our girls to build on that level of emotional output and make the most of it.”

Team news for the Chiefs sees Poppy Leitch skipper an unchanged starting line-up, which also includes hat-trick hero Charlotte Woodman, as well as Katie Buchanan, Liv McGoverne, Halley Derera and Cliodhna Moloney, all of whom are set to make their home debuts. Fellow newcomers Panache Muzambe, Katrina Hayes, Edel McMahon and Danielle Preece are also included.