Menin, Rogers and Feaunati: Exeter’s world-class foundations

A measure of Exeter Chiefs’ success in the PWR last season, losing a high-scoring semi-final to eventual champions Saracens, can be found in the club having three forwards inside RugbyPass’ Top 50 women’s players in the world.

One of that trio is DeLeaka Menin [ranked 13], recently nominated for World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year award after a string of outstanding performances for Canada.

Menin, 31, was player of the match for Canada both in the draw against England at Sandy Park and then in the first of Canada’s two wins over England this autumn in Toronto. And while Menin has many talents, to take down the Red Roses requires excellent scrummaging, as noted by her coach at Exeter, Oli Bishop.

“England’s scrum has to be the most dominant in the world, and there was parity in it from her throughout the game, and that’s huge,” Bishop explains. “For Canada to be able to neutralise England’s scrum, that’s a huge part in where they’re going to get success against that team. So she’s a huge part of that.”

Menin’s excellence in that area is not accidental, having worked on improving her scrummaging in recent years with both Canada’s coaches and Steve Salvin at Exeter. Those strides at the set-piece have made Menin a more complete player, paired with her excellence in open play and positional versatility.

“She offers so much around the pitch,” adds Bishop. “She can play loosehead and tighthead, which is a feat in itself, and she’s done that at international level. Again, she played No. 8 at the end of the season last year for us. She’s one of the top line breakers when we talk about front row and metres made in the game. She’s a phenomenal athlete that also has huge amounts of skill in a game and handling ability.

“She’s had a brilliant season, but is probably an unsung hero for multiple seasons before that. She is a long-range roaming prop, which there isn’t many of on the world stage. She’s probably one of the best at that.”

Helping Exeter dominate in the scrum alongside Menin is Hope Rogers [ranked 19], the USA’s most-capped player of all time who only seems to be getting better with age now in her early thirties.

A veteran of four Women’s Rugby World Cups, Rogers finished the last Premiership Women’s Rugby season for Exeter with 10 tries.

“She is probably one of the best in the world at scoring a try from five metres out, which isn’t always glamorous, but when it suddenly makes you one of the top twice scorers in the league as well as the world, that’s something that’s incredible along with the rest of her game,” notes Bishop.

Rogers’ try-scoring excellence is far from limited to club level. She is now only four points away from becoming the USA’s all-time leading points scorer, breaking Patty Jervey’s record, after scoring her 34th Test try in the recent defeat to England in New Jersey.

That prowess from close range is a credit to Rogers’ power, a combination of natural strength and hard graft in the gym. Bishop can remember the first time he watched Rogers in training.

“The first time we did some one-on-one stuff, just the amount of explosive power that Hope had, it blew me away,” he recalls. “I was like ‘oh my God, here’s a phenomenal athlete’. That benchmark that she set was huge.

“Hope would rank highly out of any team in the world. She is one of the most physical girls that you’ll ever see. She’s extremely good on all lifts and I think the S&C pride themselves a lot in what they’ve done with her over the years and what she’s achieved.”

Setting those standards for others to follow, combined with all of her experience, makes Rogers an outstanding but subtle leader within the Exeter squad.

“I think she’s very humble given the amount that she’s achieved, and she’s always looking to get better,” adds Bishop. “It’s those types of things that you see. There is someone that leads in probably a softer way than many others, I would say.”

Which leaves Maddie Feaunati (ranked 21), still very much at the start of her career at the age of 24 but already a Women’s Rugby World Cup and multiple Grand Slam winner with England.

One break against Scotland, creating a try for Ellie Kildunne, sticks out as an example of Feaunati’s power and handling ability.

“Maddie’s definitely a professional in how she sees the game, where she wants to go and is really motivated to become the best player that she can be,” adds Bishop.

“She very much has her own goals that she wants to hit and is determined to hit them. She performs extremely well with country and extremely well with us, she hits huge amounts of carries for us and England, is a dominant threat in those wide channels. She’s athletically gifted, but also makes great decisions when she’s on the ball.”

Ranking as one of the top offloaders in this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations, with Bishop noting she is probably athletic enough to play in the centres, there is excitement at Exeter wondering where Feaunati might be as a player in another four years’ time.

“England’s back-row, they’re embarrassed with the amount of riches they have there and there’s some extremely good quality players, and when you look at Maddy being so young still as a player, there is so much room for growth,” he explains.

“Not that she’s not hitting amazing levels of rugby at the moment – I think that’s kind of the exciting thing with Maddie Feaunati. We have not seen the best of her yet, which is something awesome that we’re seeing.

“I think she is 21 in the RugbyPass list that we’re talking about here, and she’s in her early 20s. What are we going to see when Maddie hits her later 20s, where’s she going to be? Because I think this sky’s the limit in that case.”

With the excellent trio of Menin, Rogers and Feaunati available, Exeter will be able to challenge all rivals in the PWR this season.

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