Team news: Elworthy and Menin make first appearances in new positions

Injuries to crucial members of the Exeter Chiefs Women’s squad mean Merryn Elworthy and DaLeaka Menin will start in new positions for their round 17 PWR game against Bristol Bears.

An ankle sprain in training means Liv McGoverne is out this week and Elworthy will start in her place. No 8 Maddie Feaunati will also miss the game with a knee injury. Tighthead prop Menin, famed for her work in the loose, has been selected in the back row to replace her.

Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach Steve Salvin said: “We've got a couple of injuries with Maddie Feaunati and Liv McGoverne, who would be front-liners for us. That means Merryn Elworthy starts at 10 where she actually finished our previous game against Leicester, so that's an exciting opportunity for Merryn to come in and play there.

“We've gone a little bit left field with Maddie's replacement, and we've put DaLeaka Menin at No 8. We just think if we can implement DaLeaka’s carry game off the back of the scrum, in the same way she does when she's playing tighthead and then having a tighthead of Amy Rule’s calibre in that number three shirt, that is quite an exciting prospect.

“There's obviously a little bit of jeopardy and a little bit of risk attached to that, but we do feel fully confident that we'll see a very typical DaLeaka performance, which invariably means a lot of carry metres. We’re excited to see how that goes.”

Sabrina Poulin, back from sevens duty with Canada, will start at full-back, with Katie Buchanan and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald filling out the back three. Nancy McGillivray and Alex Tessier form the centre partnership while Flo Robinson will accompany her best friend Elworthy to complete the half-back paring.

In the front row, Hope Rogers and Amy Rule will accompany hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, who was named the Women’s XVs Players’ Player of the Year at the recent Rugby Players Ireland Awards 2026.

Dorothy Wall and Linde van der Velden are back from international duty too to form Chiefs’ second row while Menin will be joined by Maisy Allen and Emily Robinson to complete the back row.

Chiefs Women will come up against a Bristol side that are currently lying in eighth place in the league.

Salvin added: “We feel we're preparing for a top four contender. The quality of the players and the quality of their squad means that we have to prepare for them as if we were preparing for Saracens or Gloucester.”

All the teams return to round 17 after two months away from league action while the international competitions were taking place.

Salvin added: “You never take for granted that you'll just turn up and you'll perform. But everyone's in the same boat. Whether you're coming off the back of poor form, whether you're coming off the back of fantastic form, everyone's going to go into this weekend slightly unsure of what's going to happen.

“The best way to try and control that is prepare as best you possibly can, which we've made every effort to do. And hopefully that'll give us the best possible chance of putting in the level of performance that we hope we'll get this weekend, but no doubt Bristol has done exactly the same thing.”

Exeter Chiefs Women will kick off Saturday’s game against Bristol Bears Women at 13:00 at Shaftesbury Park. Tickets are available here. The game will be streamed live on YouTube or there will be live updates in the match centre on the Chiefs website.

Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Sabrina Poulin
14 Katie Buchanan
13 Alex Tessier
12 Nancy McGillivray
11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald
10 Merryn Elworthy
9 Flo Robinson (vc)
1 Hope Rogers
2 Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald
3 Amy Rule
4 Linde van der Velden
5 Dorothy Wall
6 Emily Robinson (c)
7 Maisy Allen (vc)
8 DaLeaka Menin

Replacements:
16 Emily Tuttosi
17 Demi Swann
18 Abby Duguid
19 Gabriella Nigrelli
20 Zoë Dare
21 Lucy Nye
22 Naomi Brennan
23 Francesca Granzotto