Chiefs Women sign off WXV 2026 in style

Exeter Chiefs Women contributed to the last rounds of the WXV Global Series to bring the 2026 tournament to a close ahead of the 2026/27 JAECOO PWR campaign.

A total of 12 Chiefs Women pulled on their boots to contribute to the re-imagined WXV Global Series and Challenger.

In the second block of matches, action moved away from Europe with England and Italy heading to North America, Ireland to South Africa, Scotland to Australia, and Wales to Japan.

For the Chiefs Canadians – DaLeaka Menin and Alex Tessier – it was a chance to play the World Champions on home soil to improve on the draw they defended at Sandy Park. The first game was played in front of a record crowd in Toronto and saw the women in red end England’s 41-match unbeaten run.

Menin’s performance saw her win a second Player of the Match award and score another try for her country. She scored three tries across the whole competition and was also shortlisted for the Women’s 15s Player of the Year in the World Rugby Awards for 2026 in the wake of Canada’s second victory over England in Ottawa. She was also named in the World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year.

Despite the disappointment of the losses to Canada, England’s Claudia Moloney-MacDonald scored four tries against the USA Eagles on Friday, making her the top try-scorer of the tournament.

Moloney-MacDonald, who was awarded Player of the Match for her performance, said: “This week was all about proving something to ourselves. We had three really tough games against Canada and the last two weeks did not go the way we wanted them to go, but for us, it was all about learning as much as we possibly could from those two performances.

“We talked about being fearless and that’s exactly what we did. We attacked it from minute zero to minute 80. I am just really proud of the girls, the way we turned up and the performance we put out…that’s what Red Roses are all about.”

This game also saw a first Red Roses start for scrum-half Flo Robinson, and Maddie Feaunati’s third try in the tournament after featuring in every game with five starts out of six at No 8. Feaunati was also named at blindside flanker in the World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year.

The USA’s Hope Rogers also scored to amass 30 points for Chiefs players in New Jersey. The loosehead is now just three points away from becoming the highest points scorer for her country. She is currently the most capped USA Eagle too.

The USA came into the game against the Red Roses on the back of a five-game winning streak including two victories over Italy. Chiefs Rogers and Francesca Granzotto scored two tries apiece for the Eagles and the Azzurre respectively, but it was the home side that secured a 36-27 victory over their visitors. Rogers started their next head-to-head on the bench as coach Jack Hanratty tried out some new combinations. Granzotto scored her third try of the tournament, but it was not enough as the USA secured a 54-24 win in Nashville.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, Ireland played and beat South Africa twice with Dorothy Wall starting both matches. Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald was unavailable for both games due to a training injury.

There was also a first start for Scotland winger Katie Buchanan and an opening try against Australia in Sydney. She also scored at the GIO Stadium in Canberra.

Fellow University of Exeter graduate Sophie Langford was straight into the starting XV for Japan as they took on Maisie Davies’s Wales in back-to-back tests in Tokyo and Kumagaya respectively. Wales came away the victors on both occasions.

Exeter Chiefs looks forward to welcoming Davies, and the rest of its WXV players, back to the squad at the end of this month ahead of the new JAECOO PWR season, which start against Bristol Bears Women on Saturday, 28 November, at Shaftesbury Park (KO 15:00).