Exeter Chiefs

Exeter Chiefs Women were accepted into the Premier 15s ahead of the 2020/21 season on a three-year initial deal. The Devon-based outfit appointed Susie Appleby as their first-ever head coach after she joined from Gloucester-Hartpury Women, alongside a fellow former England international, Amy Garnett, on the coaching team.

Appleby quickly assembled an impressive-looking squad for the debut season, mixing established international stars, such as USA Eagles captain Kate Zackary and Spanish icon Patricia García, with young homegrown talent, like Merryn Doidge and Nancy McGillivray.

In their first year, the Chiefs finished sixth, defeating all four of the previous season’s semi-finalists and recording the longest winning streak of any team in the league in the process [seven victories in a row]. Then in 2021/22, after retaining the vast majority of their squad, and adding the likes of DaLeaka Menin and Hope Rogers to an already formidable pack, Appleby’s charges went on to win the inaugural Allianz Cup, finish second in the league, and reach the final of the Allianz Premier 15s, falling short at the final hurdle against Saracens.

The Chiefs have gone from strength to strength in their short history in the competition winning the Allianz Cup in the 2022-23 and narrowly missing out on the double as they lost in the final of the Allianz Premier15s to Gloucester-Hartpury.

In recent years the Chiefs have developed an impressive pathway relationship with Exeter College and Exeter University, Poppy Leitch coaching the university side.