Van der Velden's joy as Chiefs win again

By Harry Scott-Munro
6/12/21

Exeter Chiefs second-row Linde van der Velden was left delighted after seeing her side secure a bonus-point victory against Worcester Warriors in the Allianz Premier 15s at Sixways.

Van der Velden opened the scoring with a bulldozing run, before further scores from Nancy McGillivray, Chloe Rollie and DaLeaka Menin sealed the victory for Susie Appleby's side, who remain in the top four following their 29-12 success.

“We’re so pleased,” beamed the Dutch international. “It was a tough game. We didn’t start that well, but we then won back the momentum. Our discipline as well really helped us. Worcester are a great side and made it quite difficult, but we worked for each other and managed to score at the right times.”

The opening exchanges saw Worcester dominate both possession and territory - and Exeter’s defence was given a stern examination by Jo Yapp’s side, before the Chiefs worked their way up the field for van der Velden to score. Despite the second-row being the one to cross the whitewash, she made sure to acknowledge the effort of the rest of her side in setting up the position for her to strike.

“In the beginning, we allowed them into their game a bit, but I thought the defensive effort was amazing," added van der Velden. "Once we got into their half, the whole team set it up. I may have scored, but it was certainly a team try.”

Van der Velden also made sure to highlight the other achievements within the side, especially with a number of league debuts and first tries for the club for several of her team-mates.

“It was so good. Chloe scoring her first Exeter try, Nichola making her club debut and Eilidh making her Premiership debut as well, it’s so good to see everyone getting minutes. Today was certainly a team performance.”

This Saturday, the Chiefs will return to the home comforts of Sandy Park for the final time before Christmas, when they play host to Gloucester-Hartpury in a 12:30pm kick-off.

And for van der Velden, she explained just how much of an “honour” it is to run out in front of the Devon faithful.

“I’m looking forward to it so much. Playing at Sandy Park is such an honour and I’m looking forward to being there with the home crowd. Every team in the Premiership is a good side, so it will be a difficult and interesting game [against Gloucester-Hartpury}. Right now though, we need to enjoy this win. If we play like today, with that discipline and structure, then it’s a game we can definitely win next week.”