Match Reaction - Susie Appleby
By James Fowler
20/11/22
Exeter Chiefs Women’s Head Coach Susie Appleby conveyed her disappointment after watching them crash to a 25-17 loss in their opening Allianz Premier 15s game of the season at home to Gloucester-Hartpury.
The visitors led at half time through tries from Sophie Bridger and Mo Hunt – and their lead was extended in the second half through a brilliant solo effort from Rachel Lund.
A first half try from Ebony Jefferies and then two late scores from Katie Buchanan and Cliodhna Moloney wasn’t enough for the Chiefs with Gloucester-Hartpury full-back Emma Sing’s near faultless efforts with the boot ultimately proving the difference, as she knocked over two penalties and two conversions to bring her personal tally to ten points.
Appleby was however left ruing the opportunities her charges left out on the field.
“Disappointed definitely,” she said. “Not hugely surprised, but the disappointment comes from giving ourselves opportunities for scores and then not converting those opportunities.
“They took their opportunities very, very well and they took points when they were on offer, so Emma Sing was kicking the goals really well, and that’s the difference. There’s learnings to come out of it and the main thing is that we do learn from today”
When asked about her side’s late rally, with two tries coming in the final few minutes, Abbleby was still left feeling frustrated at what might have been.
“I think it shows what we can do and what we’re capable of, but the frustrating thing is that in the middle we didn’t do it.”
The Chiefs Women only included two players (Abbie Fleming and Gabby Cantorna) in the match-day 23 who had played in the recent Rugby World Cup – and the responsibility was therefore placed on the young stars who had performed so strongly during the Allianz Cup Pool games which had preceded the season.
Post-game, Appleby was keen to highlight how crucial this experience will be for their overall development.
“Sophie (Langford) and Danielle (Preece) in the centre-field for the first time aged 18, what an experience for them playing at Sandy Park, that’s probably what dreams are made of, and it’s come on the first game of the season.
“Then to be able to bring Gabby Cantorna on makes a big difference as an international coming back, but it’s important those kind of players get that exposure and they learn and that we all learn together, as in a year or two years’ time they’re the front runners in our squad.”
Moving forward onto next weekend’s game away to Darlington Mowden Park, Appleby sees that game as a perfect opportunity for her squad to ‘bounce back’.
She added: “We need to bounce back, and we need a good training week and we need to go to Darlington and put another good performance on, and I’m not talking about score lines, I’m talking about good confident performances from the individuals and as a squad”.
Appleby spoke about the challenges of reintegrating all the World Cup players back into the squad, especially with players coming back at different times.
“Abbie (Fleming) has been back a week, Gabs (Cantorna) came back but hasn’t really trained, so in the next two weeks we’ll get all our World Cup players, and that’ll be people returning, but also new players, so the challenge then is how to integrate those players, and who’s going to play when to maintain continuity.”
The introduction of Red Roses star Claudia MacDonald to the Chiefs squad has certainly excited Appleby and she discussed how she sees MacDonald fitting into the squad moving forward, including what position the versatile back is likely to be playing in.
“I think England want us to focus on her as a scrum-half, that’s as I understand it, but we haven’t had those specific conversations. Claud is a wonderful player and she’ll be integrated when it’s right for her, but I don’t know when that’s going to be. She’s so versatile and so talented, but not just her, there’s other wonderful players that are coming in, so it’s going to be an exciting season.”
The final word of the day though had to go to the home Sandy Park crowd, who yet again showed up in numbers to support this Chiefs side, which Appleby believes is proving how much the women’s game is growing, especially on the back of the World Cup.
“They’re absolutely amazing, and I’m almost disappointed for them when we don’t perform well and we didn’t today, but at the same time they keep coming back because they’re enjoying it and the players are loving having them here,” she continued.
“I’m really grateful to them, I want to say thank you to them all, so it’s brilliant that they’re coming and that will continue I hope, and we’ll get bigger and bigger crowds.
“On the back of the World Cup more women and girls and boys are playing the game, and that’s the critical bit around here. I think the legacy coming out of the world cup is huge and the fact that more people are coming here because the word is spreading is super exciting.”