Van der Velden back to action after second preseason

Exeter Chiefs Women’s lock Linde van der Velden will return to action against Harlequins tomorrow after eight weeks away from match action.

The original ‘original’ having captained Exeter Chiefs Women in their first season, which makes her player number #1 of all time, van der Velden is now into her sixth campaign with the club.

After a bye week, six-week league-wide break and given an extra weekend of rest for round nine, van der Velden comes back into the fray for tomorrow’s third v fourth PWR game.

While the break gave players a chance for some festive down-time, the return to the all-weather pitch at Exeter College’s Centre for Rugby meant a second preseason!

The 30-year-old Dutch international said: “Yeah, it wasn't that enjoyable, to be honest. I feel like you do a preseason once and then you hope you can sit it out for a year to not have to do it again. The weather wasn't great either!”

Even having gone through another fitness and skills cycle, van der Velden and many of her other colleagues, had to wait a further week for match action as coaches Steve Salvin and Oli Bishop rotated the squad to give opportunity to younger players last weekend. The players not selected were still in West Grandstand though cheering on their club sisterhood.

“It was really good to watch. I mean, a bonus-point win is something you're always going to be happy and proud of. I think Eilidh (Sinclair) getting her 50th, a lot of young girls making their debuts, and a lot of new faces on, but there were also different connections on the field, so it was just really good to watch them out there and get the bonus-point win.”

The 36-0 victory over Leicester Tigers Women leaves Exeter Chiefs just one point behind Harlequins. Meaning the winner of tomorrow's game will secure or take that third place behind Gloucester Hartpury and Saracens.

“It shows on the table how close we are. We're expecting a big physical battle this weekend, but very much looking forward to it.”

The term “physical battle” shows the difference in Harlequins compared to seasons gone by. Salvin referred to this change in the team news yesterday in that the flair play is now thoroughly backed up with a powerful forwards’ presence with the likes of back-rowers Alex Callender, Jade Kronkel, Aoife Wafer and Nicole Wythe, among others, poised to ramp up the physicality.

“They’ve still got the speed and they've got that agility, but it's going to be a massive physical battle. We’re just looking forward to putting that extra preseason and the physicality into the game this weekend.”

Exeter Chiefs will head to the Twickenham Stoop for tomorrow’s game against Harlequins Women (KO 15:00). For any fans who cannot make the game, it is being shown live on TNT or you can get updates from the Live Commentary feature on the new Chiefs website.