Exeter to bid for women's franchise
By Mike Smith
5/3/19
England’s Red Roses are no thorn in the side of Exeter Rugby Chairman, Tony Rowe OBE
Rowe has this week unveiled plans to bring more colour to Sandy Park by bidding for a Premier 15s franchise within the next two years.
"We've started to add the ladies into our academy, so it follows now that in a year or two's time, when the new licenses come out for the Premier 15s, we will apply for a license to be one of the professional sides in England," said Rowe.
As part of the next stage of groundbreaking developments at Sandy Park, and the Chiefs currently sitting at the top of the Gallagher Premiership, the ambitious Devonians are looking to expand their rugby operations in and around Sandy Park.
"We've already laid out our plan of action to make sure we can tick all the boxes we need to tick for when the licenses are available," continued Rowe. "We're not for making up the numbers, we want to hit the ground running with the women's game and we want to be competitive."
Rowe announced the club's latest plans at a media launch to highlight the upcoming, first-ever visit of the England Women's side to the region.
This Saturday, the Red Roses will play host to Italy in their latest Six Nations Championship clash, kick-off 12:05pm. Already over 9,700 tickets have been sold for the game, underlining the support women's rugby has within the local area.
Hoping to be part of the England squad will be Marlie Packer and Lagi Tuima, the latter of whom combines playing top-flight rugby with Bristol Bears Ladies with that of studying Sports Science at the University of Exeter.
"It's awesome for anyone in the South West," said Tuima. "More than anything, looking at the bigger picture it's a good foundation to have in terms of finding the hidden talent down here. To have something like that of that stature to aspire to would be immense."
Tuima will be familiar with Sandy Park as her 18-year-old brother Rus is currently part of the Exeter Chiefs squad - and was one of 14 players promoted from the club's academy ranks into the first team squad by Head Coach Rob Baxter last summer.
Currently there are 10 teams competing in the Premier 15s League, including the likes of Saracens, Gloucester, Wasps, Worcester and Bristol.
The RFU's interim chief executive, Nigel Melville, said “It'll be great. We want to make sure we have a great geographical spread. We haven't got a team in Exeter, we've got one up in Bristol, and maybe we could have one in Cornwall as well.
"We're looking up in Newcastle, we're already covered in the North East and the North West, but to improve that still would be fantastic and good for the women's game. But let's not just focus on rugby, let's look at women's sport across the globe. It's growing. There's growth in every area."