Exeter Chiefs Women maintain their control at the top of the Allianz Premier 15s table, with a 25-54 bonus point win over Harlequins Women. Big Game 14 kicked-off with the women’s match, in a monumental event at Twickenham Stadium.
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Head Coach Susie Applyby was delighted to come away from Twickenham with the victory.
“Really pleased to come out in the second half and do what we did, we turned the game around in my opinion. Our bench were absolutely massive and that’s the difference at the moment between winning convincingly, which is what it looks like, but it wasn’t. It was literally the impact of the bench and the ability to bring that calibre of player on, which they (Harlequins) weren’t able to do.”
Applyby highlighted Chiefs flanker Maisy Allen, and Exeter’s other try-scorers who took the game out of sight for Quins.
“Maisy’s outstanding, I’m surprised to be honest that she’s missed out this week on the England selection. Nancy McGillivray a young player who ahs been included, she comes on and scores a try with the first touch, which is brilliant. Claudia McDonald’s on the edge scoring a brace, they’re doing that because of the hard work the forwards are doing around the ball.”
Chiefs thought that they had scored in the opening minute, as centre Katie Zackary muscled her way over the line, and scored in the corner. However, Zackary’s trailing foot grazed the touchline and the try was disallowed.
Yet Zachery was not denied, with her try just two minutes later to open the scoring. A powerful line break from Rachel Johnson pinned Quins back on their try line, and the ball was sent to Zackary. The centre spun out of the first tackle attempt, and used her momentum to crash over and score from close range. A successful conversion from Liv McGoverne established a seven point lead.
Chiefs doubled their lead with back-to-back tries and Maisy Allen built upon her record as the Premier 15s top try scorer. The flanker grounded a rolling maul, for Exeter’s second of the day, and Allen’s 13th of the season. Another successful conversion from McGoverne extended Exeter’s lead.
Harlequins centre Bella McKenzie started off their points tally with a well-struck penalty, and Quins were over to score a try shortly after. In typical Quins fashion, the Londoners made a break and kept the ball alive with fast-flowing offloads, Emily Scott’s audacious off-load found Kaitlan Leaney, with the lock then brought to ground near the Chiefs try-line.
Scrum half Lucy Packer was opportunistic at the back of the breakdown, and sniped around the corner to score, with the cheer echoing all the way to the Stoop. McKenzie’s following conversion narrowed Exeter’s lead.
Another McKenzie penalty followed minutes later, as the fly half certainly brought her shooting boots to Twickenham. This reduced the deficit to 13-14, yet the one point difference was short-lived, with Exeter scoring a third try to close out the first half.
Bella McKenzie lost the ball at the breakdown, with prop Daleaka Menin setting off downfield. She was brought down, but the following phase saw Chiefs play quick ball, through Nichola Fryday, Gabby Cantorna and wide to Rachel Johnson. The powerful number eight then put a strong fend on the last defender, and dived over in the corner.
Harlequins came out of the blocks fastest in the second half, as Red Roses winger Abby Dow scored after just two minutes. Lagi Tuima carried at pace, before finding Freya Aucken who broke into the backfield. She offloaded over the top of the Chiefs’ defenders, to find Dow out wide, who ran in to score along the right wing. A miss-kicked McKenzie conversion failed to reduce the deficit.
Yet Chiefs responded almost immediately, with replacement flanker Ebony Jefferies crashing on a hard-line to score. McGoverne slotted the simple penalty from in front of the posts after 45 minutes. Jefferies followed this up with an impressive line break, and carried into the backfield. She then found winger Claudia McDonald, who ran in unopposed to score just before the hour mark.
Quins responded yet again, as this sparring match took another exciting turn. Just two minutes after re-starting, Harlequins had Chiefs pinned back on their try line, with short pick and drives edging closer to score. Prop Hannah Sims was able to drive over from close range, with Lagi Tuima taking up conversion duties to add the extras.
Yet Exeter were resilient, and refused Quins to build momentum into the final 10 minutes. Three unanswered tries presented their class, and started off with Claudia McDonald gabbing her second try of the afternoon. She scored in the corner, with McGoverne’s miss-pass to Merryn Doidge a key move in the build up to the try.
Seconds after coming off the bench, Nancy McGillivray marked the occasion with a try at Twickenham. She drove across from short range, in her first touch of the match. After scoring Chiefs’ opening try, Katie Zackery finished the scoring with an impressive solo try. Breaking away on the Chiefs 22m, the centre sold the dummy on the final defender, and ran through to score. A final conversion by McGoverne wrapped up the match for a monumental Chiefs Women’s victory.
Harlequins Women’s Head Coach Amy Turner spoke after the match, disappointed by the result, but enjoyed the occasion.
“They were definitely up for it, high energy, loved the occasion of walking over the bridge from the Stoop. The fanbase got behind us, and the fanbase were here from the start of the game which is massive for the playing group. We probably started a little bit slow. We came out in the second half really wanting to start well, I think we did, it’s just sustaining that for a 40 minute period.”
Harlequins Women Captain Emily Scott highlighted centre Lagi Tuima as a stand-out player today, and discussed where Quins fell short against the Chiefs.
“Lagi is unreal, outstanding player, she keeps giving, she’s a stalwart for this club. So consistent, again you know every time she get’s the ball, she’s looking to do that little outside break and create little half gaps. She’s just a really good team person to be around, and she’s great to have as part of the squad.”
“I think they brought what we expected, we knew that they were going to be a tough team. They thrive off working really hard, they thrive off hitting our breakdowns and being a nause and stuff. And so, they did exactly that, and we just weren’t good enough in the end today to nullify that threat, but we kind of knew what they were going to bring.”
“We worked hard all week in looking at that. So fair play to them, its a good game from them and unfortunately we just weren’t good enough at the end of the game.”
HARLEQUINS WOMEN: 25
TRIES: 3 (Packer 25′, Dow 42′, Sims 61′)
CONVERSIONS: 2 (McKenzie 25′, Tuima 61′
PENALTIES: 2 (McKenzie 21′, 33′
DROP GOALS: 0
15. Aucken 14. Dow 13. Tuima 12. McKenzie 11. Thorley 10. Scott 9. Packer 1. Sims 2. Cokayne 3. Edwards 4. Leaney 5. Bonar 6. Brooks 7. Robinson 8. Mew
16. Dobson 17. Cooper 18. Latsha 19. Galligan 20. Chancellor 21. Swords 22. Blacklock 23. Wilcock
EXETER CHIEFS WOMEN: 54
TRIES: 8 (Zackary 3′, 75′ Allen 13′, Johnson 37′, Jefferies 45′, Mcdonald 59′, 67′, McGillivray 72′)
CONVERSIONS: 7 (McGoverne 3′, 13′, 37′, 45′, 59′, 72′, 75′)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
15. Doidge 14. Cramer 13. Zackery 12. Cantorna 11. McDonald 10. McGoverne 9. Robinson 1. Rogers 2. Moloney 3. Menin 4. Fryday 5. Leitch 6. McMahon 7. Allen 8. Robinson
16. Tuttosi 17. Turani 18. Jacoby 19. Van Der Velden 20. Jefferies 21. Bradley 22. Wilkins 23. McGillivray
