American Women Lead Exeter to Premier15s Final
American Women Lead Exeter to Premier15s Final
England's Women's Premiership final is Saturday with the Exeter Chiefs taking on Gloucester-Hartpury.
For American rugby fans, there's really only one team to root for—Exeter. The run to the final for Exeter has been heavily supported by American players. The team's MVP, most likely, is Kate Zackary. The Eagle captain is usually a No. 8 but this season (as she has done in previous seasons) she has suited up at outside center. And at either position she has been brilliant.
Or maybe the team's MVP is Hope Rogers. The best loosehead in the world dominates the scrum for the chiefs and is their primary option in short yardage scoring chances. Rachel Johnson, normally openside flanker, has taken on Zackary's role at No. 8. Charli Jacoby is a stalwart in the front row, and Gabby Cantorna, despite ceding goalkicking responsibilities to Liv McGoverne, remains a crucial player at inside center. That doesn't even include the Canadians on the team (Zackary joked about this with the BBC, saying that all this means is she can understand what the heck her teammates are saying).
All of this influence was clearly on display in the last two weeks.
Against Gloucester-Hartpury in the regular season finale, the Chiefs slammed the league-leaders 58-19. OK, G-H had the top spot sewn up and didn't need to win that game, but still.
In that game Rogers scored four tries and Zackary two. All of the Americans were excellent and it instilled the Chiefs with the confidence they would need to get through the semifinals.
In that semifinal against Saracens the Chiefs fell behind 14-0, a score that would last until halftime.
But the Chiefs turned things around right after halftime. Saracens muffed a backline move inside the Chiefs' half. Zackary charged in, toed the ball ahead, caught it on the high bounce, and charged on for a 75-meter try. It was a brilliant score and it seemed to rankle Saracens, who saw their discipline fade. Rogers scored a crucial try and eventually the Chiefs held on 24-21.
This is all further proof of the quality of players the USA can turn out.
Exeter isn't the only team with Americans, just the team with the most regular starters. Saracens has Lotte Clapp as their vice captain. Lock Jenny Kronish suits up for Harlequins. Sale Sharks give Exeter a run for their US dollar with Jojo Kitlinski, Alycia Washington, Georgie Perris-Redding, Nick James, Katie Benson, Eti Haungatau, and Carly Waters all on the roster. Loughborough signed Hallie Taufoou and Bulou Mataitoga in January. DMP Sharks have Meya Bizer, Olivia Ortiz, Rachel Ehrecke, Kathryn Treder, and Tess Feury (it's like the two teams dubbed the Sharks decided to divide forwards and backs).
Next year Leicester joins the league and already have MA Sorensen Award-winner Mae Sagapolu penciled in as their tighthead.
But this coming weekend is all about what the Americans on the Chiefs have accomplished. They are not only on the roster, not only starting, but are crucial to Exeter's success and, really, their main stars. No one carries the flag better than Zackary, who is kind, jovial, smart, ruthless on the pitch, and about as team-first as you can get. Despite being such a team-first kind of player she leads the Premier15s with 19 tries. Who's second? Hope Rogers with 16.
A lot of the credit for getting so many North Americans on the field for Exeter goes to Head Coach Susie Appleby. She has been committed to finding the best players, and also very quickly saw that she had a couple of impressive leaders, even if they were Yanks.
So, Saturday morning, it seems like it will be America's team versus Gloucester-Hartpury ... it's no contest. The other team can't even agree on a name.
And it's also a message—the pressure is on the USA Rugby brain trust. They have the proof that the USA produced world class players. Now how about making a national team that is greater than the sum of its parts?
