Exeter boss unhappy with league and WXV clash

Exeter boss Susie Appleby says the Premiership Women's Rugby season should not begin until the WXV competitions finish later this month.

England's elite women's league starts this weekend despite most of its international stars away with their countries for the next fortnight.

Appleby has 16 players absent with different nations while other sides have similarly depleted squads.

It means the team that is selected for Exeter's season-opening game at Harlequins on Saturday could bear little resemblance to the side that plays for much of the rest of the campaign.

The campaign has already been shortened - it will finish in March - in order to allow international players to prepare for regional tournaments such as the Six Nations before next year's World Cup in England.

"It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, I don't know why they're doing it, but that's where we're at," Appleby told BBC Sport.

"It should be an opportunity for other players, but sadly we haven't got enough players across the league that can make this league look really good without all those players missing.

"It's not going to be hopefully an indication of what's to come in three weeks time, but for now it's a struggle."

As well as 16 players on international duty, England's Claudia MacDonald is still out with a neck problem, although Nancy McGillivray is set to return after more than year out due to a knee ligament injury.

The main advantage of playing when the WXV is on is that Exeter will have a squad made up mainly of English-qualified players.

It could allow them more flexibility later in the season with clubs having to field 13 English-qualified players in each match over the course of the season.

If Exeter can field more English players early on it would allow them more non-English qualified slots in later rounds and still stay within the rules.

"There is method to some of their madness, not a lot because I do think they could have shifted it back a bit, or shifted WXV forward a bit and still not clashed," added Appleby.

"They never want international competitions to clash with this league because it is meant to be the best in the world, and that's what they want to show.

"But these two weeks are going to look a bit different - three realistically because the players finish on 13 October so it's unlikely they'll be in game three either - so we're looking at game four and beyond."

Exeter begin their fifth season in the women's professional game aiming for a fourth successive visit to the play-offs.

Having reached the final in 2022 and 2023, Exeter were well beaten by Gloucester-Hartpury in last season's semi-final, as the Cherry and Whites went on to win the title for a second straight year.

Appleby says her aim is for Exeter to be crowned as English champions, and dispel the memories of painful defeats in seasons gone by.

"We've let ourselves down in those semis and finals, so we've got a real focus on peaking at the right time this year," Appleby said.

"You can't guarantee it, and the challenge is to keep people fit.

"How do you keep your squad fit? How do you rotate? How do you peak at the right time not having had a pre-season with your whole squad? It's a challenge isn't it?

"But we're determined to be there, we're going to do it. I'm not going to say we're going to do it this year, but we are going to do it, we're going to make it."