Fiftieth game awaits Menin as Chiefs Women look forward to Tigers’ visit
Exeter Chiefs Women’s prop DaLeaka Menin will play her 50th game for the club in Sunday’s final Allianz PWR game of the regular season against Leicester Tigers Women, while university fresher Connie Clarke will make her first league start.
Menin is one of seven American and Canadian players who have recently returned to Sandy Park from the Pacific Four Series (PAC-4) hosted in New Zealand.
The tight-head played her first game for Chiefs against Bristol in September 2021 having moved to the club from Loughborough Lightning. Since then, she has scored 10 tries in a Chiefs jersey. She has also juggled an international career that has seen her collect 55 caps.
Assistant coach Steve Salvin said: “DaLeaka is a world-class player. She has just come off the back of a PAC-4 win, beating the Black Ferns, and getting Player of the Match. That is a snapshot of the quality she has as a player. She works extremely hard on her game, always doing extra work after training with Emily (Tuttosi). We are very lucky to have someone of that calibre. Her 50th cap is a special moment for her and for us.”
Sunday’s squad will see Menin joined by fellow Canadian Pacific Four Series 2024 champions Alex Tessier and Emily Tuttosi.
They will line up alongside Gabby Cantorna and Hope Rogers, who were part of the USA Eagles team that beat the Wallaroos at the PAC-4 tournament. Rachel Johnson, however, misses this game with a hand injury. Olivia Ortiz has been named as a travelling reserve.
While plenty of international experience has been injected into the match-day 23, Sunday also sees winger Connie Clarke make her first start for Chiefs Women having had just two run-outs for the club in recent weeks.
Salvin added: “Connie has really impressed us. As much as this weekend is very important in terms of our preparation for the semi-final the following week, we think she deserves an opportunity. She is only in her first year at university, but she made her league debut coming off the bench against Ealing, facing up to Abby Dow, and every single thing she has done in games and in training has been really positive. She’s got herself into a position where she is a genuine contender for selection.
“Think about where Katie Buchanan was 18 months ago and how she has improved. We need to develop Connie in a similar mould and for that, she needs game-time.”
Sunday’s league game also sees Chiefs Women come full circle having started their Allianz PWR campaign against Leicester Tigers Women in September 2023. Finishing their first season in the league, Tigers are currently in eighth place with Chiefs in fourth, hoping to set themselves up for the semi-finals.
Salvin concluded: “We have got two games at least left to play and we want to it to be three. We want to put in a positive performance against Leicester and put ourselves into a good position to go into the semi-final.”
Sunday’s game (KO 15:00) is £11 for adults and £5.50 for children 16 and under. This game is included in all season ticket holder packages.
Exeter Chiefs Women
15 Merryn Doidge (vc)
14 Kate Buchanan
13 Kanako Kobayashi
12 Gabby Cantorna
11 Connie Clarke
10 Alex Tessier
9 Brooke Bradley
1 Hope Rogers
2 Emily Tuttosi
3 DaLeaka Menin
4 Linde van der Velden
5 Poppy Leitch (c)
6 Ebony Jefferies
7 Maisy Allen
8 Maddie Feaunati
16 Cliodhna Moloney
17 Hannah Sams
18 Lizzie Hanlon
19 Niamh Orchard
20 Harriet Millar-Mills
21 Edel McMahon
22 Taz Bricknell
23 Robyn Wilkins