Exeter Chiefs Women v Trailfinders Women

Exeter Chiefs Women opened their 2025/26 PWR campaign with a bonus-point win on the road with four tries against Trailfinders Women.

They made the most of the chilly wind in the first half with an early break from flanker Maisy Allen taking Chiefs into Trailfinders’ territory. Sadly, the ball was knocked on as it was passed out to the wing, resulting in a scrum to the home side. The ball was seen safely away to new Trailfinders centre Meg Jones but Trailfinders were called back for offside.

The first Trailfinders lineout, just inside Exeter’s half, saw the ball stolen by Chiefs. A Flo Robinson kick was collected by full-back Julia Schell in her own 22 and Trailfinders settled into defensive mode. The return kick was collected by McGoverne who unleashed another long-range kick to drive Trailfinders back even further.

The first Chiefs scrum on the 10-minute mark resulted in a knock-on for the visitors to reverse the set-piece, which Chiefs claimed for their own as the scrum turned through 90 degrees. McGoverne kicked to touch for lock Linde van der Velden to collect at the lineout. The ball was recycled towards the other wing for McGoverne to fight her way over for Chiefs first try in the 15th minute to take the score to 0-5.

Another lineout was the platform for Chiefs’ second try as the visitors advanced into Trailfinders territory with flanker Taz Bricknell almost reaching the line but passed to prop Hope Rogers to get a try on her 50th appearance for the club. McGoverne added the extras once Bricknell had been helped off the field with an injury.

Chiefs continued to apply the pressure with their job seemingly made easier with a yellow card for Trailfinders centre Carys Cox, but some arm-wrestling in the set-piece made finding that third try tricky for the visitors. It looked like Allen may come up with the goods when she charged towards the line but was just short,

Chiefs finally capitalised on their extra numbers when a strong scrum saw the ball passed across the backline and returned to the centre of the field where van der Velden burst through the Trailfinders’ defence. A long missed pass from Allen to the wing to Gabriella Nigrelli enabled her to score in the corner. McGoverne converted.

An early Chiefs penalty saw McGoverne launch the ball into touch, but the game was halted again for another injury, this time to Trailfinders’ prop Sara Seye. Trailfinders’ newest signing Maya Montiel came on to replace her.

Captain and lock Emily Robinson was solid at the next lineout to get her team into Chiefs’ 22. Prop DaLeaka Menin made the extra strides to get Chiefs even closer to the try-line for Trailfinders to concede another penalty, but the throw was not straight at the ensuing lineout and a chance went begging.

Trailfinders’ lineout and drive were more successful but they were a long way from the Chiefs’ half. A penalty gave them the opportunity to progress up the field with a kick fly-half from Isla Norman-Bell.

The lineout went awry though and although hooker Moloney-Macdonald got the ball away to wife wing Moloney-Macdonald, another penalty was conceded to Trailfinders.

But then Chiefs began to build up a head of steam as the replacements came on in the form of Emily Tuttosi, Amy Rule and Alex Tessier. The new-look team held onto the ball to progress up the field before scrum-half Flo Robinson grabbed the ball from the bottom of the ruck for McGoverne to fire out to Claudia Moloney-MacDonald to score Chiefs’ fourth bonus-point try on the 50-minute mark to make it 0-24.

The home side would not lie down though. A Trailfinders lineout gave them the territory they needed to get over the line after a quick-tap penalty saw captain Kate Zackary take the score to make it 5-24 with Jones taking the extras.

Another lineout for the home side proved lucrative as the follow-on drive propelled hooker Georgia Ponsonby over the line to make it 12-24 with 10 minutes to go.

This was the last score of the game as Chiefs began to run the clock down. The visitors may not have known what to expect from this new-look Trailfinders team but they stuck to their game-plan to claim five points on the road in round one. Next up, champions Gloucester-Hartpury at Sandy Park.