DaLeaka Menin: “The momentum for women's sport right now is just so exciting”
Canada’s tighthead prop and Rugby World Cup finalist DaLeaka Menin is back and raring to go after nearly eight months away on international duty.
Canada’s tighthead prop and Rugby World Cup finalist DaLeaka Menin is back and raring to go after nearly eight months away on international duty.
As a finalist, Menin was given a few more weeks off, along with Red Roses Maddie Feaunati and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, so missed the final few rounds of the PWR Cup. The start of the PWR league season though will see all fit and ready international players back in action tomorrow.
The 30-year-old said: “It was a long time away, doing exciting things, but it's good to be back in that fresh country air away from the city life that I've been living with Canada.”
Anyone who became invested in the Rugby World Cup will know that Canada’s journey through the tournament was impressive. Not unexpected for the self-funded international team that has made the world number two ranking their own. The women in red quietly went about their business, including a pool stage win at Sandy Park against Scotland.
“Yeah, it was so cool. Like, I know it's been said by me and by Emily (Tuttosi) (above left), but it was the closest thing we'll ever have to a home game in a World Cup because we knew so many people in the crowd. The beautiful thing about this area is everyone loves rugby. Like, it's not just Exeter Chiefs they support, they love rugby as a whole.”
Canada eased through the pool stages and beat Australia in the quarter-finals to set up a Friday night lights semi-final showdown with the Black Ferns. As anyone who watched the game will attest, this was a performance for the ages. Canada blew away the reigning champions 34-19 with Chiefs team-mate Alex Tessier scoring the last try. It set up a winner-takes-all final at Twickenham final against the home nation favourites…which ended in defeat for the Canadians.
“It was a disappointing end. I can't pretend that I'm not upset about it, but it was a fantastic run. It was amazing to see the support grow as it went on, because I think we picked up fans along the way as people watched us play, which was really exciting.”
Living so far away from home, Menin does not expect to see her family for many, if any, of her Chiefs games and her international fixtures, but she had much-needed parental support for the final.
“My mum and dad came out. They weren't able to make any of the rest of the games, but they made it up for the final and it was very cool. My parents have never really watched a professional game before. They came to a couple of my first games a couple years ago when the crowds were still small. So, their first real rugby game was at Twickenham with 80,000 people!
“They loved it, and it was fun to have them in the crowd just to know there was someone to go give a hug to afterwards.”
Anyone who has spent any time around Menin knows she is delightfully positive and engaging. While the hurt of the final loss took a few weeks to shake off, she is back to her bouncy self for club duty and the PWR.
“I'm very excited to get back to it. After this World Cup, the momentum for women's sport right now is just so exciting. So having the PWR start right afterwards is such a great step forward to keep some of these fans that maybe their first interaction with women's rugby was the World Cup. Now they have a league to go and find those athletes that they learned about and watch them and support them. So hopefully we'll see bigger crowds going into this and I think a bit more exciting rugby.”
Playing alongside Menin this week, rather than meeting her head on the international stage, will be club team-mate and USA adversary Hope Rogers. As the cornerstones of Chiefs Women’s pack for several seasons, Menin and Rogers are a well-oiled team with a stack of international caps between them. Tomorrow will be Rogers’ 50th milestone game for the club.
Menin said: “Hope's fantastic. She's such a versatile prop. I think we're really seeing what a modern-day prop is and Hope's an example of that. And in the scrum, she's dominant. She's got a lot of strength in her shoulders. I can attest to that!
“I'm so excited for her to get her 50th. She's worked so hard and is such a consistent player on this team and carries a lot of; carries the ball a lot but carries a lot of weight from a performance point of view. I'm hoping that she gets to score a couple tries for us. That's always, what she's best at doing.”
Menin and Rogers will be in round one PWR action for Exeter Chiefs Women against Trailfinders Women at Trailfinders Sports Ground tomorrow (KO 15:00). Watch the game live on YouTube.
Chiefs Women will play their first home game against Gloucester-Hartpury on Saturday, 1 November (KO 15:00). Tickets are available here.