Chiefs beat Trailfinders to begin PWR campaign

With a 24-12 victory over Trailfinders, the Chiefs of Exeter opened their Premiership Women’s Rugby season with a dominant first-half performance.

After 13 minutes, Liv McGoverne gave Exeter a start, and after that, McGoverne successfully converted after grabbing a loose ball from Hope Rogers.

Gabriella Nigrelli delivered her team’s third try with the help of Maisy Allen’s excellent quick attack, with McGoverne adding the extras to make it 19-0 at the break.

In the 49th minute, McGoverne’s team scored a looping pass to England’s Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, who had already led 24-0.

Kate Zackary gave the hosts hope when she saw a gap and dived over in the 54th minute, with Meg Jones scoring. Trailfinders appeared to be firmly out of the picture.

However, their encouraging second-half performance was marred by Georgia Ponsonby’s error in slanting out wide in a packed area to reduce the deficit. They only managed five more points though.

On Saturday, Sale Sharks take on Leicester Tigers at 19:00 BST.