Arriving on the Big Stage
Chiefs player rush to congratulate Kate Zachary after her try against Saracens - Photo © Exeter Chiefs
Back in 1999, professional rugby league came to the north east with the arrival of Gateshead Thunder, a new franchise that was given the opportunity to join the Super League competition despite being essentially started from scratch just a few months earlier.
The squad was comprised almost entirely of Australian players, and after a couple of understandable defeats, the squad soon started to gel, performances improved and the wins quickly followed. It was clear the team was going to be competitive, but one performance completely changed previous expectations and showed that the newly-created squad was going to be a real force…
That performance came in a home fixture against a fine St Helens side, a game that the visitors were realistically favourites to win; but Thunder flew out of the blocks and scored three tries in the opening quarter of an hour; a close-range effort from Craig Wilson, a wonderful length-of-the-field move finished off by Willie Peters and the third try courtesy of an outrageous dummy from Tony Grimaldi.
Thunder dug in, weathered the expected onslaught, and extended their advantage in the second half. St Helens rallied again in the closing minutes, but the result was already well beyond doubt. It was a day I remember vividly 22-years on, and although the club’s subsequent history has had more than its fair share of difficult times, it was a magical year, and I made lifelong friends because of that season in Super League.
On Saturday, I saw another example of a new club producing a similar performance and result The code may have been different, but Exeter Chiefs women’s rugby union side, playing only their tenth Premier 15s game, defeated Saracens 22-14 at a wet, and sadly virtually empty Sandy Park.
To put the victory into some sort of context, Saracens had been unbeaten for 33 games, a run stretching back to October 2018, but even more impressive than the scoreline was the stunning first-half performance which saw a cosmopolitan Chiefs pack dominate the all-star Saracens forwards and keep their opponents scoreless at the interval.
You don’t win 33 games without having resilience as well as talent, but Exeter’s physicality in defence and superior handling ensured that the reigning champions were never able to maintain any consistent pressure and Kate Zackary’s charge-down score, followed by Rachel Johnson’s debut try late on secured the victory and rounded-off an outstanding team effort.
Much as there are obvious differences between Gateshead Thunder and Exeter Chiefs – the most notable being the existence of a strong foundation from which the Exeter’s women’s club can develop and grow – the striking similarity is the number of players who were willing to travel from their home country to be part of a sporting adventure.
As I mentioned, Gateshead Thunder’s squad consisted of mainly Australians, some vastly experienced, others looking to establish themselves in the game; but one glance at the Exeter women’s team sheets this season will reveal players from the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, America and Japan, as well as some emerging talent from the south-west.
It’s an incredibly diverse group, but under Susie Appleby’s guidance, it has also become a cohesive and confident group. The performance against Saracens marked Exeter’s arrival on the big stage and set a standard on which upcoming performances will be judged. The bar has been set high, but you can’t help thinking something really special is starting to happen down in Devon.
For me, there was only one disappointment (other than the fact that no fans were inside Sandy Park to see the game), and that was how the result was reported. Rugby union is a mainstream sport and this game featured the outstanding women’s side over recent years … yet scrolling down the BBC Sport app on Sunday morning, Exeter’s exploits were deemed worthy enough to be the 31st story…
I’ve already been lucky enough to have spoken with Exeter’s Garnet Mackinder and Linde van der Velden as part of an interview project to showcase everything that I think is fantastic about women’s sport. Hopefully I’ll be chatting to more members of the squad over the weeks to come – I’m not exactly the BBC, in fact I’m not even a professional journalist; but when a team performance can get you up out of my seat like the Chiefs did on Saturday, then it’s only right to try and make a few more people aware.
The squad was comprised almost entirely of Australian players, and after a couple of understandable defeats, the squad soon started to gel, performances improved and the wins quickly followed. It was clear the team was going to be competitive, but one performance completely changed previous expectations and showed that the newly-created squad was going to be a real force…
That performance came in a home fixture against a fine St Helens side, a game that the visitors were realistically favourites to win; but Thunder flew out of the blocks and scored three tries in the opening quarter of an hour; a close-range effort from Craig Wilson, a wonderful length-of-the-field move finished off by Willie Peters and the third try courtesy of an outrageous dummy from Tony Grimaldi.
Thunder dug in, weathered the expected onslaught, and extended their advantage in the second half. St Helens rallied again in the closing minutes, but the result was already well beyond doubt. It was a day I remember vividly 22-years on, and although the club’s subsequent history has had more than its fair share of difficult times, it was a magical year, and I made lifelong friends because of that season in Super League.
On Saturday, I saw another example of a new club producing a similar performance and result The code may have been different, but Exeter Chiefs women’s rugby union side, playing only their tenth Premier 15s game, defeated Saracens 22-14 at a wet, and sadly virtually empty Sandy Park.
To put the victory into some sort of context, Saracens had been unbeaten for 33 games, a run stretching back to October 2018, but even more impressive than the scoreline was the stunning first-half performance which saw a cosmopolitan Chiefs pack dominate the all-star Saracens forwards and keep their opponents scoreless at the interval.
You don’t win 33 games without having resilience as well as talent, but Exeter’s physicality in defence and superior handling ensured that the reigning champions were never able to maintain any consistent pressure and Kate Zackary’s charge-down score, followed by Rachel Johnson’s debut try late on secured the victory and rounded-off an outstanding team effort.
Much as there are obvious differences between Gateshead Thunder and Exeter Chiefs – the most notable being the existence of a strong foundation from which the Exeter’s women’s club can develop and grow – the striking similarity is the number of players who were willing to travel from their home country to be part of a sporting adventure.
As I mentioned, Gateshead Thunder’s squad consisted of mainly Australians, some vastly experienced, others looking to establish themselves in the game; but one glance at the Exeter women’s team sheets this season will reveal players from the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, America and Japan, as well as some emerging talent from the south-west.
It’s an incredibly diverse group, but under Susie Appleby’s guidance, it has also become a cohesive and confident group. The performance against Saracens marked Exeter’s arrival on the big stage and set a standard on which upcoming performances will be judged. The bar has been set high, but you can’t help thinking something really special is starting to happen down in Devon.
For me, there was only one disappointment (other than the fact that no fans were inside Sandy Park to see the game), and that was how the result was reported. Rugby union is a mainstream sport and this game featured the outstanding women’s side over recent years … yet scrolling down the BBC Sport app on Sunday morning, Exeter’s exploits were deemed worthy enough to be the 31st story…
I’ve already been lucky enough to have spoken with Exeter’s Garnet Mackinder and Linde van der Velden as part of an interview project to showcase everything that I think is fantastic about women’s sport. Hopefully I’ll be chatting to more members of the squad over the weeks to come – I’m not exactly the BBC, in fact I’m not even a professional journalist; but when a team performance can get you up out of my seat like the Chiefs did on Saturday, then it’s only right to try and make a few more people aware.