EXETER Chiefs Women will be looking to go one better in today's Allianz Premier 15s final against Gloucester-Hartpury at Kingsholm and claim the title.

Twelve months ago, they lost to Saracens in the final, but having beaten them in the semi-final this season, they go into today's game full of confidence (3.30pm).

It would also complete a league and cup double for the Chiefs – for whom head coach Susie Appleby will be going up against her former club – having already lifted the Allianz Cup this season.

Gloucester-Hartpury – who finished the regular season top of the pile in the Premier 15s – saw off Bristol Bears 21-12 in their last-four clash, and will come up against the team that finished second in the regular season.

The Chiefs have named former Liskeard-Looe player Merryn Doidge at full-back.

"Our prep has been good,” said Chiefs assistant coach Steve Salvin. “Prep is all about habit and we try and get that habit right every week, regardless of who we play or the importance of the game.. That said, it is a bit different. Whether people admit or not, it’s a Prem Final at the weekend, so you have to understand the pressure that comes with that.

“As a squad, it’s how you harness that pressure and that build-up which is key. Losing last year’s final, it wasn’t great, but it has given us that experience and other things that we can use in the build up to this weekend.”

He added: “I’ll be honest, we weren’t ready to win it last year. We had built huge momentum up through the Cup run and that kind of carried us through the regular season and then to beating Bristol in the semi-final. After that, we didn’t really have the cohesion or the resilience to react to Saracens and the challenge they brought that day.

“This year has been a lot different, we’ve had to deal with a lot more adversity this time. We’ve had much tougher tests running into this final, we even lost a couple of games, but the girls have kept working incredibly hard and doing everything we have asked of them.

"We’re under no illusions, we know this weekend is going to be just as tough. They [Gloucester] have had a fantastic season and they recruited very well last summer with some of the players they brought in. We fully understand we can win it this weekend, but we can also lose it, it’s what happens in that 80 minutes. As I said, though, the experience of last year sets us up nicely.”

Exeter: M Doidge, E Sinclair, K Zackary, G Cantorna, C MacDonald, L McGoverne, F Robinson, H Rogers, E Tuttosi, D Menin, N Fryday, P Leitch (capt), E McMahon, M Allen, R Johnson. Replacements: C Moloney, S Turani, C Jacobi, A Fleming, E Jefferies, M McDonald, R Wilkins, K Buchanan.