Team news: Robinsons to make their return to the Twickenham Stoop
The sibling duo of Emily and Flo Robinson will make their return to Twickenham Stoop tomorrow as Exeter Chiefs Women face Harlequins Women for their first game of the new PWR season.
Older sister No 8 Emily spent six seasons with the London club while Flo spent 2023/24 with them after starting her professional career with Chiefs.
They are a part of side that will field a plethora of England-qualified and, mostly young, players to kick-start the new season.
Head coach Susie Appleby said: “At the end of last season, we did blood a few young English players that are now quite comfortable to step onto the field tomorrow. It will be a young side this weekend; there will be England U20s in there, which is good.
“We have got Flo Robinson back from Quins and she came with Emily. We have got Liv McGoverne back at first receiver. Then there are younger players too. We have played a couple of pre-season games, and they went pretty well, but we just need to manage people’s expectations.
“Tomorrow’s going to be quite fun, I think! Quins team was totally different last season, our team is totally different too. We have got a couple of theirs; they have got a couple of ours who have gone up the road. We just have to look at it as a continuation of our pre-season and of those friendly games.”
All PWR nine clubs will be lacking international players for at least the first few rounds while the WXV competition continues in Canada, South African and Dubai. However, Chiefs will see two Canadian stars hoping to make their club debuts with prop Mikiela Nelson and winger Sabrina Poulin named on the bench.
Hooker Clara Nielson makes a welcome return to the starting line-up after several months rehabbing an ankle injury. The rest of the 23 have been selected on the back of performances in September’s winning PWR Up pre-season friendlies, which saw Exeter Chiefs Women rack up a total of 12 tries against Gloucester-Hartpury and Bristol Bears.
The 1st XV features University of Exeter centres Naomi Brennan and Sophie Langford, plus prop Hannah Sams, along with recent graduates Niamh Orchard and Maisy Allen. Additional youth is represented by the University’s Ellie Cunningham and Millie Whitehouse, plus Exeter College’s Zara Feaunati, also on the bench.
Winger Katie Buchanan misses out after suffering a wrist fracture in training. However, there is good news on the injury front with Nancy McGillivray expected to be fit later this month, after a year out of the game with a knee injury, and Claudia MacDonald is expected to return to play before the year is out. These players will make a welcome return as the coaching staff aim to keep the squad fresh in a very compact season.
Appleby added: “We now have six games back to back, which is pretty full-on. We have to be able to look at the squad and look at different combinations, who works well together and who can transfer their training performance onto the field on a Saturday.
“We are starting now and motoring through without a break which I like. I think it’s a good way to do it! It means we won’t lose momentum, and we won’t lose in interest from those neutrals that are watching the game, are enjoying it and will come and watch again and again.”
Tomorrow’s game against Harlequins Women kicks off at 15:00. Tickets are available here.
Exeter Chiefs Women
15 Merryn Doidge
14 Eilidh Sinclair
13 Naomi Brennan
12 Sophie Langford
11 Georgina Tasker
10 Liv McGoverne
9 Flo Robinson
1 Demi Swann
2 Clara Nielson
3 Hannah Sams
4 Poppy Leitch (c)
5 Niamh Orchard
6 Ebony Jefferies
7 Maisy Allen
8 Emily Robinson
16 Millie Whitehouse
17 Mikiela Nelson
18 Flo Long
19 Zara Feaunati
20 Taz Bricknell
21 Lucy Nye
22 Ellie Cunningham
23 Sabrina Poulin