Sinclair to earn long-awaited 50th Chiefs cap

Exeter Chiefs Women will celebrate another 50th cap when Eilidh Sinclair runs out against Leicester Tigers on Sunday (KO 13:00).

The Scot will start at full-back having recovered from eye socket and hamstring injuries earlier in the season.

Sinclair has 18 Scotland caps and has played in the World Sevens Series. Part of the original group that joined Chiefs in 2020, this 30-year-old pocket rocket has waited patiently for her 50th cap.

She said: “I've been at this club for a while now but I’ve been pretty unfortunate with injuries along the way, so I probably could have done it a couple years ago but waiting just makes it a little bit sweeter I guess.”

In fact, Sinclair joined Chiefs Women with a serious injury back in 2020, but when she was fully fit again, she made a significant impact, helping the club to back-to-back Allianz Cup wins in 2021/22 and 2022/2023 with 17 tries along the way.

Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach Steve Salvin said: “When I first arrived, there was an attempt being made to convert Eilidh to a flanker, which we realised pretty quickly wasn't going to work, so we moved her back out to the wing. By the end of the following season and the next, she was playing on the wing in both cup finals. Just shows how valuable she is.”

Salvin added: “She's not traditionally what you would expect from a winger in that there'll be wingers in the league who are quicker than Eilidh, but I don't think there'll be any more competitive than her. You see it in the way she talks, you see it in the way she goes into contact, her leg drive, her counter-rucks…those little bits and pieces that often don't get associated with wingers are things that she does really, really well.

“She’s also pretty versatile. Me and her always have a joke that she wants to play second row. I'm never going let her, but we have that joke probably every other week. But she's also a good stand-in at nine when we've had scrum-halves in the sin-bin. Eilidh’s a genuinely great squad member and I'm looking forward to seeing her play at the weekend, wherever it will be on the pitch.”

Sinclair will share a changing room with two players she coached at Exeter College: Danielle Preece and Lilly Plowman. She coached the girls’ team at the college for several years before taking over the girls’ top-tier Player Development Group and helping to coaching the boys’ college programme.

Sinclair said: “Having coached the girls for four years, it has been a really interesting transition between being their coach and mentor, and then suddenly being their teammate all in the space of a couple years. It's something that actually inspires me, even in my latter playing career, to see like people that I have helped grow, then watch them grow, and then grow with them. It's something really special and it's something quite unique to the women's game.”

Housemate and team captain Emily Robinsons said: “Eilidh adds a lot to the club as a whole. She's always coached within the pathway, so she's added massive value to the club. It's really important that we celebrate these milestones because I think as a player, and also as the player's family, you dedicate a lot of your life to playing at the highest level you can.

“It's taken Eilidh six years to get to the 50 caps and we really look forward to those milestones as a group. I feel it's an opportunity to play for that player and it definitely adds emotional fire to the day.”

Sinclair gets to mark her 50th with a home game at Sandy Park where numbers should be boosted with tickets for just £1 for children and youths.

“I love playing at Sandy Park. It’s really fortunate that it is a home game for my 50th. I’ve got some family coming down, which is really special, but it is also just another game. We've got our objectives and we know what we want to do but I am looking forward to it. It is it has been a long time coming for me, so I am excited.”

Sandy Park has been the stage for many of Sinclair’s finest performances, most notably a last-minute try against Saracens that took the club to their second cup final. Sinclair Corner in the north-east area of the ground has been a happy hunting ground for the 31-year-old.

“That seems to be the only corner I like! I’m obviously in a different position this week, so it won’t be as easy to score in that corner. I'll just be happy with a team win and a good team performance.”