Familiar face temporarily steps into coaching role

With Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach Steve Salvin away with the Welsh national team, a familiar face has stepped in to take on coaching duties.

Normally seen driving across the city between Sandy Park and the Centre for Rugby at Flowerpots or gathering the dirty kit together for washing duties, Chiefs Women’s team manager Keith Brooking has been getting involved on the pitch while Salvin is away.

No stranger to coaching, Brooking was player-coach at Launceston, Cullompton and Taunton before becoming an Exeter Chiefs Academy coach and then switching to the women’s team.

He said: “It's been exciting just to do something a little bit different. Obviously with Steve going over to Wales, it's been an opportunity to get out from the office and actually get on the pitch.

“It’s been great to mix with the girls as well, just to see where they are after such a long season so far…having the opportunity just to look at skills and various individuals and how they can improve ready for this next block.”

After eight years with the Academy and more years before that working with men’s teams, Brooking has had to get used to life working with female athletes.

“It's really interesting because obviously I dealt with the younger players, where there's willingness to want to do better…and just improve. That’s exactly what the girls are like.

“They just want to be better; they want to improve all the time and try anything they can just to get that little edge.

“It's a great transition from the young lads into the women's team. They all just want to get better, which is a great environment to be in.”

There’s still another five weeks until the Chiefs Women and the rest of the PWR teams return to action while the Guinness Women’s Six Nations continues. Chiefs will head to Shaftesbury Park to play Bristol Bears Women on Saturday, 30 May (KO 13:00). Their last home game of the regular season will be against Sale Sharks Women on Sunday, 7 June – KO 15:30.

Until then, the third preseason continues!

Brooking said: “We've really just gone back to the beginning. This is the perfect time just to hone skills, practise something you've found you're not good at during the season, stuff that you don't often practise.

“We're taking things right back, looking at various techniques and things like that. It's a long old 13-month season with regards to training. We’re having a bit of fun with it as well, so it's good.”