Team news: Elworthy and Moloney-MacDonald back for trip to Saracens

Exeter Chiefs Women’s full-back Merryn Elworthy and winger Claudia Moloney-MacDonald have made successful returns from injury to play Saracens tomorrow night (KO 19:30).

Elworthy missed the first few games of the second block of the season after having a knee debridement before the end of 2025 while Moloney-MacDonald also had surgery on a scaphoid fracture before Christmas.

Moloney-MacDonald will start tomorrow’s PWR round 12 game that will see Chiefs play an evening fixture for the first time this season. This represents one of two changes to the starting line-up that defeated Loughborough Lightning last Sunday. Zoë Dare will make her first PWR start in the place of Dorothy Wall, who is recovering from concussion. Meanwhile, Elworthy is the only change on the bench.

With Moloney-MacDonald back on the wing, Chiefs’ supporters will be treated to a back-three that has never played with each other before, including Francesca Granzotto and last week’s Vertu Player of the Match, Sabrina Poulin.

Exeter Chiefs Women’s head coach Steve Salvin said: “We thought Sab was fantastic after only landing back here from Australia on the Wednesday.

“In the last two weeks, Fran has shown us something that we've not seen from her before. The number of defenders that she's beaten, the tries that she's scoring…she's starting to look like a really top player.

“Having Claud back is always a good thing. It's always frustrating when a player that can do the things that Claud does misses games. You just sort of have to roll with the punches and get on with it. The good bit is she is back now and when Claud’s at her best, I'm not sure there's anyone better.”

Chiefs are still without Taz Bricknell (knee), Sammie Harris (hand), Abby Middlebrooke (finger), Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald (hamstring), Edel McMahon (knees), Emily Robinson (hamstring), Hannah Sams (shoulder), Alessia Skeates (ankle), Dorothy Wall (concussion) and Lola Whitley (quad).

However, injury returnees Sofia Bekir Fuente, Danielle Preece and Kayleigh Priest are hoping to feature for the University of Exeter in their Women’s Championship South 1 fixture against Bath this weekend.

Tomorrow night’s fixture will see second play third after Chiefs swapped places with Harlequins on Sunday. With a 10-point gap between Saracens and Chiefs, a first away win at the StoneX Stadium would see the latter reduce that deficit.

Salvin added: “You always try to prepare to win a game. I think you have to go there with an element of belief that you can win the game and I think that's probably as important as your preparation. Although we lost the game to Saracens earlier in the season, I thought we played particularly well bar one or two elements. If we play like we did the first time we played them, and we go there with a level of belief, then we give ourselves a chance.”

Tomorrow night’s game is being broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and there will be live match updates from the match centre on Chiefs’ website.

Exeter Chiefs Women

15 Sabrina Poulin
14 Francesca Granzotto
13 Alex Tessier
12 Gabby Cantorna
11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald
10 Liv McGoverne
9 Flo Robinson (vc)
1 Hope Rogers
2 Emily Tuttosi
3 Amy Rule
4 Linde van der Velden
5 Abby Duguid
6 Zoë Dare
7 Maisy Allen (c)
8 Maddie Feaunati

16 Eleanor Febrey
17 Demi Swann
18 DaLeaka Menin
19 Kate Smith
20 Gabriella Nigrelli
21 Lucy Nye
22 Naomi Brennan
23 Merryn Elworthy