Exeter light up Twickenham with eight tries to beat Harlequins in Big Game

The final of the women’s Premier 15s competition is three and a half months away but the odds on Exeter going all the way continue to shrink. The league leaders have lost once in 13 games and this ultimately convincing eight-try victory was their latest show of intent.

If they were not entirely error-free, they played some lovely rugby at times and backed it up with energy and physicality. There were two tries apiece for England back Claudia MacDonald and the versatile American centre Kate Zackary, but this was a collective effort.

Exeter raced into a 14-0 lead through Zackary and Maisy Allen and came close to scoring a couple more, with Zachary putting a toe in touch in the opening minute and Nichola Fryday dropping the ball as she stretched for the line. Quins were initially well off the pace and could barely escape their own half.

With a little more possession and territory, the hosts gradually gained a foothold on the contest via a try from England scrum-half, Lucy Packer, and the boot of Australian fly-half Bella McKenzie. Suddenly, it was 14-13 and the contest temporarily assumed a different complexion.

In the shape of Zackary and American No 8 Rachel Johnson, Exeter had the two most consistently energetic ball-carriers on the field and it was due reward for Johnson when she benefitted from a defensive mismatch to go over for Exeter’s third try shortly before the interval.

Quins struck back early in the second-half courtesy of a sharp Abby Dow finish down the right, but almost immediately, the replacement back-rower Ebony Jefferies broke clear to secure Chiefs’ bonus point at the other end before MacDonald, Zackary and the new England squad member Nancy McGillivray further turned the screw.

Sign up to The Breakdown