Team news: Irish pair rack up 50th appearances for cup game
Ireland and Exeter Chiefs Women’s duo Nancy McGillivray and Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald will make their 50th appearances for the club in tomorrow’s third place play-off game against Bristol Bears.
The international centre and hooker will mark their milestone appearances with a place in the starting line-up that will run out at Shaftsbury Park (KO 13:00).
Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach Steve Salvin said: “We've had a couple of players hit the century and we've now got a little stable of players that are hitting that 50 mark. In order to be hitting those numbers, you've got to have been a pretty consistent performer.
“Nancy was out for about 18 months with her in ACL, so imagine if that injury hadn’t happened, she would probably be near 70 or 80! Nancy's only 22, so she's still a young player and obviously had a great experience with the World Cup, but Nancy was brilliant for us last year because she played every game at 13 off the back of 18 months out. The exciting thing for Nancy is there's still a huge amount of growth. She's potentially got upwards of another 10 years of rugby.
“Cli is a hugely valuable member of our squad. She's got some real natural leadership and sets very, very high standards. When she's at her best, I'm not sure there's anyone better. When she's rampaging and her set-pieces function, she is without question a world class player. So hopefully we'll see about that this weekend.”
McGillivray and Moloney-MacDonald will be joined by fellow Rugby World Cup returners centre Gabby Cantorna and prop Hope Rogers from the USA.
Italy’s winger Francesca Granzotto will make her debut for Chiefs with fly-half Maddie Flutey waiting to make her first appearance from the bench.
Other changes see Eilidh Sinclair move to full-back as Merryn Elworthy recovers from illness. Lucy Nye, Moloney-MacDonald and Rogers all come in due to three shoulder injuries to Flo Robinson, Kayleigh Priest and Hannah Sams.
Prop Abby Middlebrooke returns from injury to start the game on the bench with scrum-half Sammy Wong also back in as an impact player.
Salvin added: “It makes sense to reintegrate with Nancy and Gabby coming in, while Francesca gets her debut. Cli and Hope are coming back in as well, so that will give us a real good chunk of experience because obviously we had some real significant issues at scrum-time last week.
“We also have a de-load week next week, which is when six of our internationals are due back – our three Canadians, two Red Roses and a Black Fern – which means we only have one week leading into Ealing to get them prepped. So, with those five - Nancy Francesca, Gabby, Hope and Cli - coming back in this week, we will get a little bit of a head start in terms of reintegration.”
Chiefs Women will be playing for third place in the PWR Cup after a loss against Saracens last weekend.
Salvin said: “Third/fourth play-offs are bizarre because you've come off the back of a loss when you were chasing silverware and now you've got to play another game that feels a little bit meaningless, but it is really significant for us.
“It's about still trying to develop our game, which is new, obviously, with a change to coaching staff. Momentum's key and obviously, we lost a little bit of momentum last weekend off the back of beating Gloucester and then Ealing. This game is really important for us in terms of preparation for the start of the PWR season.
Tickets for tomorrow’s game will be £12 for adults and £6 for U12s.
Exeter Chiefs Women
15 Eilidh Sinclair
14 Francesca Granzotto
13 Nancy McGillivray
12 Gabby Cantorna
11 Katie Buchanan
10 Liv McGoverne
9 Lucy Nye
1 Demi Swann
2 Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald
3 Hope Rogers
4 Linda van der Velden
5 Emily Robinson (c)
6 Taz Bricknell
7 Maisy Allen (vc)
8 Gabriella Nigrelli
Replacements:
16 Sofia Bekir Fuente
17 Abby Middlebrooke
18 Alessia Skeates
19 Lola Whitley
20 Zoe Dare
21 Sammy Wong
22 Naomi Brennan
23 Maddie Flutey