Exeter Chiefs Women v Trailfinders Women

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When: Sunday 7 January 2024 at 12.30 p.m.
Where: Sandy Park, Exeter

Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Merryn Doidge (vc)
14 Katie Buchanan
13 Danielle Preece
12 Gabby Cantorna
11 Claudia MacDonald
10 Alex Tessier
9 Brooke Bradley
1 Hope Rogers
2 Cliodhna Moloney
3 Lizzie Hanlon
4 Nichola Fryday
5 Poppy Leitch (c)
6 Maddie Feaunati
7 Maisy Allen
8 Rachel Johnson

Replacements:

16 Daisy French
17 Abby Middlebrooke
18 DaLeaka Menin
19 Harriet Millar-Mills
20 Ebony Jefferies
21 Taz Bricknell
22 Eloise Heyward
23 Sophie Langford

Ealing Trailfinders Women

1 Liz Crake
2 Lindelwa Gwala
3 Sara Seye
4 Tyson Beukeboom (c)
5 Rowena Burnfield
6 Shannon Ikahihifo
7 Megan Barwick
8 Kate Zackary
9 Emma Swords
10 Ellie Green
11 Abby Dow (vc)
12 Jess Cooksey
13 Julia Schell
14 Vicky Laflin
15 Rosie Inman

Replacements:

16 Elisa Riffonneau
17 Kie Tamai
18 Andrea Stock
19 Lauren Brooks
20 Charlie Willett
21 Ella Amory
22 Carys Cox
23 Lou Dodd



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:01:05:12:07:03 by ouch!_that_hurts.

Hope Kate Zachary gets a big welcome back to Sandy Park. She is a star. I think we should be too strong but Abby Dow could be a handful. Chiefs 48 Ealing 17

Chiefs 30 Ealing 20.

Chiefs 35: Ealing 18

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

Chiefs 42 Ealing 22

Kate Z aka superwoman...am I allowed to say that ?...is bound to score at least once.
If we can hold onto the blooming ball, not knock it on or drop it AND start to run fast - we always seem to be moving through treacle - we should win comfortably.

Chiefs 33 - Ealing 17

Not sure I like being in the East quite the same now?? Always thought it was good in the West and used to sit close to Susie and Steve and listen to them during the match, great fun.
I don't feel as close to the squad now and we never get it together to cheer them off the pitch after the warm up. We need to be ready for when they put down the tackle pads and give them a good holler as they head back to the changing room like we always did from the West stand........

27 - 20

Ealing 19 V Chiefs 36

From the Tele..........
Exeter Chiefs Women have been forced to drop an array of international players this weekend to avoid a five-point deduction from the Rugby Football Union.

There is a limit on the number of non-English Qualified Players that can be selected in the women’s top flight and Chiefs, who are second in the Premiership Women’s Rugby table after five games and vying for a home semi-final play-off, need to make up a shortfall of five English players over their next three fixtures - one of which is against league leaders Saracens - or their title chances could be dealt a huge blow.

Exeter are not the only club struggling to meet the league’s English Qualified Player quota, which requires a minimum average of 13 English players in a matchday squad across the season. Sale Sharks - who have barely been able to meet the requirement - are expected to be slapped with a five-point deduction in the coming weeks.

To avoid a similar fate, Susie Appleby, the Exeter head coach, has forfeited at least six international stars for her side’s match against Ealing Trailfinders on Sunday at Sandy Park.

They include Canada hooker Emily Tuttosi, one of the most experienced front-rows in the women’s game, along with Australia utility back Lori Cramer and Chiefs’ big ball-carrying Dutch No 8, Linde van der Velden.

“Emily Tuttosi has been in this league since it started,” said a disgruntled Appleby. “She’s loyal. She coaches in the community. She does everything she could possibly do and embraces being a part of what we’re all trying to do here. But she said for the first time this week that she doesn’t feel welcome, which is really sad.

“That’s one example of what these rules - which they [the RFU] didn’t think through - are inflicting upon our league. The English players that are going on the field are feeling guilty because they’re English.”

Appleby added it was “ironic” that her players had to complete an RFU-led diversity and inclusion awareness session earlier this week. “I’m looking these players in the eye and saying, ‘I can’t play you because you’re not English.’ There’s nothing inclusive about that,” she said.

Katy Daley-Mclean, Sale women’s performance lead, is understood to have held talks with Belinda Moore, the chief executive of the PWR, over relaxing the rule, which Appleby claims in some instances compromises player safety.

“We set out on a mission to toe the line and we are bringing through loads of young English players, but if you put the wrong player on the field at the wrong time, they could pick up a serious injury,” she said.

An RFU spokesperson said: “The England Qualified Player scheme has the full support of both the RFU and Premiership Women’s Rugby as part of our partnership to support the ambitions of the Red Roses, especially with the Women’s Rugby World Cup taking place in 2025 but we have also been open with other countries to allow access for their players into PWR to help support their development as they look to professionalise their own domestic leagues.

“All of our clubs agreed to the regulations, and like all other leagues we want to support homegrown talent. We will however continue to review this, along with many other matters, as the League evolves.”

Chiefs W 33 - 24 Ealing

I have to say I agree with the EQP minimum player rule. Its paid big dividends for France and I think we should have the same for the men.

Chiefs 37, Ealing 19

Chiefs 38 Ealing 21

Can see both sides of the EQP argument and assume the clubs have signed up for it. But do wonder if it’s legal under Discrimination law?

The Telegraph article mentions forfeiting at least 6 international players but only names 3!

Could anyone please tell me who the other players are and their nationalities?

Very hard on the newer clubs to suddenly come up with a squad of EQP players ‘overnight’ and then puts them in the position of getting a points deduction (which could mean missing out on playoffs) against player welfare (having to play players with knocks or too inexperienced) and can see Susie’s point in the statement below.

“The clubs that are really struggling are the new clubs like us, Sale, Leicester Tigers and Ealing Trailfinders because we are either three years in or brand new. You cannot create top level players overnight. I feel quite strongly that people understand this.”

[www.exeterchiefs.co.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:01:07:05:57:29 by tigersimon.

Quote:

tigersimon

Very hard on the newer clubs to suddenly come up with a squad of EQP players ‘overnight’ and then puts them in the position of putting a points deduction (which could mean missing out on playoffs) against player welfare (having to play players with knocks or too inexperienced) and can see Susie’s point in the statement below.

The RFU has actively encouraged the Prem clubs to put together women’s’ teams (at the expense of long-standing women’s sides like Litchfield and Waterloo). Clubs like Exe and Sale have had to try pull a side together effectively from scratch. It’s not like there were loads of top-level female players in the area, waiting for a club. Good players like Lagi Tuima were picked up by Bristol.

So Exe Women were founded in Sept 2019, but could only properly start recruiting in April 2020 (height of Covid) when they were told they had a place in the Prem 15s in the 20/21 season. Susie Appleby then had to pull together a competitive side from scratch in a few months. And you can’t create a pipeline of young English talent out of thin air. So she brought in internationals from elsewhere.

It does look rather like the goalposts are being moved, to introduce this new rule (which benefits the older established clubs like Quins and Sarries) at the expense of the new clubs. You can see the logic to the rule over the long term, but at least give the clubs time to develop talent and build up a pipeline…

Chiefs 38 Ealing 18

Chiefs 28 Trailfinders 22

THe RFU have been snarking at our girls about this from the start pretty much. We didn't do things the way they wanted us to but if we'd done that we'd have been not much better than Durham to start with.

Don't think I've got close all season so far! Chiefs 35 Trailfinders 20

You have a good POINT EXDJ. Perhaps a 3 season alleviation for new clubs.
The realmproblem was a lot of traditional women's teams were deliberately killed and the talent isn't as mobile in that amateur game.
On balance I still agree with the intent and would even prefer a slightly lower initial standard to develop a better longterm pool of players.

Chiefs 34 Trailfinders 23

This frustrates me! Apologies if I cross the line, but ...
How can a competitive competition be established if the available resources are not exploited? It seems to me that the RFU are again keen to appear to grow the game, but equally not upset thf established order of things. This is mutually exclusive. Unless you enable new entrants to complete, they will simply disappear.
Once the game has 12 established and competitive sides, then is the time to tune around the selection criteria to ensure the national side has a good core of players, not before hand.

In Rob we trust.
By the way - cream on first. There's nothing to debate.

I follow women's rugby but not to the same extent as the mens. Indeed I am taking my daughter to her first rugby match tomorrow at Sandy Park.
When I first heard the plans for the EQP rule within the women's game it was obvious that Exeter would suffer initially.

Can someone remind me when the rule implementation was announced regarding EQP players and how much notice clubs were given before it was to be enforced?

Chiefs 33 27 Ealing

Quote:

Zyder head
Can someone remind me when the rule implementation was announced regarding EQP players and how much notice clubs were given before it was to be enforced?

New penalties announced in June - to come into effect in September:
[www.bbc.com]

The article acknowledges that most of the England/Roses talent is concentrated in Quins and Sarries. So if you stop clubs fielding internationals from outside England, then the league reverts to a cosy Sarries/Quins duopoly.

Some excellent posts & information on this post, thanks EXDJ, DWhite805, DumnoniiNomad.

Apologies I am going to use Leicester Tigers Women as my example here because I know more about them.

So Tigers were accepted in to the Premier 15s (to be relaunched as PWR) on 16th December 2022 after the tender process. One assumes that the idea of a points deduction for failing to meet average EQP numbers was detailed in the tender documentation! But until Tigers knew they were accepted full recruitnent couldn’t really start. So they are expected to assemble a EQP Compliant squad in 9 months!!!

[www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk]

Sale had even less notice!

What are clubs supposed to do with non EQP players in their squads who have moved to UK, possibly uprooted families &. settled you can’t just sack them overnight!

Everyone wants the Red Roses to be successful and they are not doing badly at the moment! so not giving the clubs some breathing space to develop their pathways & implement this is madness and this should be a long term aim with slightly less stringent rules for new (& newer) clubs to the PWR that gets more stringent over time.

RFU London bias or incompetence again!

Zyder head, hope your Daughter enjoys her first game.

Some good predictions this week - well done to SixNineOne and Hankey who both scored 5 points this week

I pointed out to Susie that in the recent 'big Game' at Twickenham both the Gloucester and the Harlequins women had their names printed on their shirts and I asked why our girls do not? Her reply

"It has been discussed this week in our bi weekly call with the RFU/PWR, with a view to mandating it in 2 season’s time. The cost currently for those teams putting names on shirts is about 2k a season. Plus we would need someone to apply the names since our manager is voluntary, not full time."

I believe our girls names should be at least as prominent as those in any other club