Gloucester Hartpury v Exeter Chiefs Women

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Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Sabrina Poulin
14 Katie Buchanan
13 Alex Tessier
12 Nancy McGillivray
11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald
10 Liv McGoverne
9 Flo Robinson (vc)
1 Hope Rogers
2 Eleanor Febrey
3 DaLeaka Menin
4 Linde van der Velden
5 Dorothy Wall
6 Emily Robinson (c)
7 Maisy Allen (vc)
8 Maddie Feaunati

16 Kayleigh Priest
17 Demi Swann
18 Amy Rule
19 Abby Duguid
20 Gabriella Nigrelli
21 Eilidh Sinclair
22 Gabby Cantorna
23 Merryn Elworthy

G/H 33 - 14 Chiefs

Gloucester lineup: [scontent-man2-1.xx.fbcdn.net]

Glaws 30 Chiefs 20

Hartbury 35 : Chiefs 22 just don't think we're close enough yet

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

The good news is that Zoe Stratford and Emma Sing aren’t on the teamsheet. The bad news is that a host of other GH galacticos will be playing…
I’m heading up to Gloucester this afternoon to watch our girls, so in a fit of wild optimism I’m going for my usual score:
GH 26; Chiefs 31

GH 36 Exe 14

After the Saracens annihilation last week hope for a bounce back; we need it to restore some confidence. Dorothy Wall back as well as Emily Robinson makes the pack stronger. Hope for two points - one essential; a win pretty unlikely unless G/H have a bad day and we play really well. G/H 36 Chiefs 29

Glaws 29 - 17 Chiefs

Glos 36 - 18 Chiefs

Playing Saracens away and Gloucester Hartpury away in successive matches was always going to be a tough assignment. Whereas I felt we got blown away at the StoneX, our women put up a much better performance against GH last night. The final score of 38 - 20 to GH suggests that the winners were never in any doubt, a view reinforced by the way they were able to fold up our scrum at will and march down the filed with the ensuing penalties - it only took them a few minutes to register their first try using this tactic. What's less apparent from the scoreline is that GH only won by 6 tries to 4, Claudia M-M scoring our bonus point try in the final minutes of the game.
GH are an extremely well drilled side in both attack and defence. Indeed, I don't recall Chiefs being awarded a single penalty or scrum during the first quarter of the match. They are also very physical in contact, Maud Muir looked pretty much unstoppable and my pick for Player of the Match, Tatyana Heard, was really strong on the gainline and in defence. GH were also much more efficient than Chiefs in the red zone. At times Chiefs looked like the England men's team, fluffing penalty kicks to the corner and losing the ball in contact, where as normally you'd have expected Hope Rogers or Maisie Allen to go burrowing over for a try.
Having given GH a 26 - 5 advantage before half-time, I'm glad to say that Chiefs stuck to their guns in the second half and it became a much more even game as they began to win penalties and learnt how to neutralise GH's advantage on Chiefs' scrum feeds. Ultimately, their inaccuracy in the red zone still cost them, but they did score a couple of excellent tries - Sabrina Poulin scorched down the right wing leaving defenders in her wake in the first half and Claudia M-M's try in the closing minutes was one of her trademark powerful runs down the left wing.
Whilst it was almost inevitable that GH would prevail, I thought Chiefs women put up a very solid performance, which bodes well for the rest of the season. Of course if we maintain our top 4 spot, we have the real prospect of a return to Kingsholm for a semi-final!