Chiefs Women return for the “business end” of the Allianz PWR

Exeter Chiefs Women will head to Trailfinders Sports Park with a team bolstered by internationals returning from Six Nations duty.

Chiefs’ newest Red Rose Lizzie Hanlon has been selected in the front row alongside Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney, with England’s Maddie Feaunati on the bench. Flanker Maisy Allen and centre Kanako Kobayashi are also back in the team having not be able to play in the final stages of the Allianz Cup as they were away with England and Japan respectively for the WXV competition at the start of the season.

Conversely, Chiefs are also giving opportunities to less experienced players with University of Exeter prop Lucy Ward hoping to make her debut tomorrow off the bench, while wing Connie Clarke and centre Naomi Brennan will be aiming for their first league appearance.

Meanwhile, several Chiefs players are still away competing in the Pacific Four Series.

Head coach Susie Appleby said: “We have had a couple of cup games; we’ve had a look at some players and found out who’s up for playing in the league. We’ve also had a look at some uni players coming out of BUCS, which has been brilliant. It’s now all systems go for the remainder of the season.”

Tomorrow’s game against Ealing Trailfinders will be Chiefs Women’s last away game in the 2023/24 league competition with Saracens to come next Sunday and Leicester Tigers on June 1. Chiefs Women need just one more point to secure a place in the Allianz PWR semi-finals.

Appleby added: “It is the business end of the season, heading towards the play-offs. We’ve got our Irish and English players back in, but our American and Canadians are still away and will be for the next couple of games, so there is still a little bit of re-jigging of the squad, but it gives others opportunities, which is brilliant.

“We have got two thirds of our front row back in Cli and Lizzie, who recently got her first cap. This is fantastic; that’s what we are trying to do…producing young players for the international stage. Lizzie had achieved that now and is raring to go having not played a lot. Cli and Maddie have been coming off the bench, so they are really keen to get stuck back in.

“How well can we reintegrate those players and how cohesive can we be against a really decent side, who are definitely on the up, in Ealing will be key. We need to make sure we get out there and really seize our opportunities.

“I want to make sure we put performances in that we are proud of and that can take us into a semi-final, which will be pretty brutal in terms of whoever we play or wherever we are playing. We need to be in the right place mentally and physically when we do make that semi-final.”

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 15:00 and will be played at Trailfinders Sports Park.

Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Merryn Doidge (vc)
14 Eilidh Sinclair
13 Kanako Kobayashi
12 Sophie Langford
11 Katie Buchanan
10 Robyn Wilkins
9 Brooke Bradley
1 Demi Swann
2 Cliodhna Moloney
3 Lizzie Hanlon
4 Linde van der Velden
5 Poppy Leitch (c)
6 Ebony Jefferies
7 Maisy Allen
8 Harriet Millar-Mills

Replacements:

16 Clara Nielson
17 Lucy Ward
18 Hannah Sams
19 Niamh Orchard
20 Maddie Feaunati
21 Taz Bricknell
22 Naomi Brennan
23 Connie Clarke