Lightning Women’s Rugby Programme 27th November 2022

RHYS EDWARDS DIRECTOR OF RUGBY

Welcome back to the Cinch Stadium at Franklins Gardens, for what is another special moment for us a team. Today we play our 1st Home fixture of the 2022-23 Premier 15s season. Last year was a special moment for the team playing at the Cinch Stadium at Franklins Gardens. It is such a high-quality venue and arguably the best pitch in the country.

Our two fixtures here last year were incredibly exciting games and showcased the women’s game at its best. Harlequins return today, having been the last game we played here in the final game of the season, in what turned out to be our most complete performance. More of what we hope to see today.

The season has started later than normal due to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. We as a club had 18 players, representing England (7), Scotland (7), Canada (2), USA (1) and Wales (1). It was fantastic tournament, with England agonisingly losing in the final to New Zealand in one of the greatest finals we have seen at any World Cup (including men’s). During this competition it was great to see Sarah Hunter become the most capped England international of all time with 140 caps. A phenomenal achievement for one of the best players who’s ever played the game.

Over the next few weeks, we will see these players return to the AP15s following their well-deserved rest periods. This week sees Club Captain Rachel Malcolm return to the starting XV and Leah Bartlett and Christine Belisle to the reserve bench. Having their experience available will only strengthen the squad this weekend.

It was great to see the impact the game is having globally, and the support the players are starting to receive from their respective National Governing Bodies. The game is going through a positive transition and is on a professionalisation journey. Players are now starting to be able to prioritise their rugby by being supported by their clubs, through dual career opportunities or financial support.

The AP15s season started last week. We played Saracens Away, losing in the last stages of the game 33 – 21. We started extremely well, scoring a try off 1st

phase, but then we conceded a number of scores in the middle 3rd of the game. We managed to get ourselves back into the game with two more score from debutant Lauren Bolger, who claimed her Hat-Trick, but a late score from Saracens took away our losing bonus point. 6 players made their debut, following a strong Premiership cup campaign which ran during the World Cup period.

Today’s game is set up for a thriller, with us both looking for our first win of the season. Harlequins, the visitors, will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to Worcester.

We are excited to play here again, and the support that we have had from Northampton Saints has been hugely appreciative. We aim to continue our fantastic run at the gardens and make it a real fortress.

Thanks again for all your support today. We hope that you all enjoy this occasion.

Rhys

Edwards, Director of Rugby

TODAY’S TEAMS

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING V HARLEQUINS

KATIE TREVARTHEN 1 1 HANNAH DUFFY BRYONY FIELD 2 2 ROSIE DOBSON DETYSHA HARPER 3 3 BRYONY CLEALL LILLI IVES CAMPION 4 4 KATY MEW GEORGIA BRADLEY 5 5 KAITLAN LEANEY RACHEL MALCOLM 6 6 LAUREN BROOKS SALLY WILLIAMS 7 7 EMILY ROBINSON DAISY HIBBERT JONES 8 8 JADE KONKEL-ROBERTS JESS WEAVER 9 9 EMMA SWORDS MEGAN DAVEY 10 10 EMILY SCOTT LUCIA LINN 11 11 LAUREN TORLEY MOLLY LUTHAYI 12 12 RACHAEL BURFORD

REFEREE: HARRY WALBAUM

GEORGINA TASKER 13 13 LAGI TUIMA LAUREN BOLGER 14 14 IZZY MAYHEW GEORGIE LINGHAM 15 15 BELLA MCKENZIE KENDAL WAUDBY 16 16 ELOISE HARRIS LEAH BARTLETT 17 17 SHEREE COOPER CHRISTINE BELISLE 18 18 CHLOE EDWARDS GRACE CLIFFORD 19 19 SARAH BONAR MAJA MEULLER 20 20 LUCY HERYET

HELEN NELSON 21 21 FREYA AUCKEN CARMELLA MORELL 22 22 BETH BLACKLOCK SARAH SMART 23 23 GEORGIA COMERFORD

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTING VS SARACENS MATCH REPORT

EMILY SCARRATT AND HELEN NELSON

FULL TIME: LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING 21-34 SARACENS

HOME TEAM (SARACENS)

TRIES: Campbell 12, 30, Clifford 41, Campbell 45, Evans 80

CONVERSIONS: Wyrwas 12, Williams 45, 80, Williams (Pen) 77

AWAY TEAM (LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING)

TRIES: Bolger 3, 53, 57

CONVERSIONS: Hardy 3, 53, 57

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING: Lingham, Bolger, Tasker, Hardy, Swartz, Davey, Weaver, Trevarthen, Field, Harper, Ives Campion, Bradley, Allen, Meuller, Hibbert- Jones

REPLACEMENTS: WWaudby, Baverstock, Curphey, Clifford, Williams, Prothero, Linn, Luthayi

SARACENS: Alejandro, Grant, Casey, Wardle, Evans, Johnson, Wyrwas, Turl, Campbell, Clifford, Mcintosh, Tansley, Evans, Kasolo, Moore

REPLACEMENTS: Rettie, Gooding, Loyola, Schutzler, Mcmillan, Goddard, Williams, Clapp

Loughborough Lightning fell to a 34-21 defeat against Saracens in the first round of the Allianz Premier15s during a tense encounter at the StoneX Stadium.

Lightning had an electric start and found themselves on the scorecard early when the ball was worked out to Lauren Bolger, who ran the ball in from her own half in the third minute. Emma Hardy added the extras to give the visiting side a 0-7 lead.

Saracens responded to this early pressure ten minutes later, with May Campbell going over from driving maul and Ella Wyrwas converting to level the game

Both sides pushed to get another score but it was Saracens who broke the deadlock when Campbell added her second after 30 minutes, sending the home side into the break with a 12-7 lead.

Saracens struck early in the second half when Kelsey

Clifford powered over after the home side gathered the ball from the restart. Just a few minutes later, Campbell added a bonus point score with her third of the game, again from a driving maul to extend Saracens lead to 24-7. A yellow card for Saracen’s Isla Alejandro on 49th minute quickly altered the dynamic of the game.

Lightning took advantage of their extra player and Bolger ran in a second after a stunning line break from Georgia Bradley.With 57 minutes on the clock, Bolger grabbed a hat trick after intercepting on the wing and running in under the posts, with Hardy converting to reduce the deficit to three.

Despite repeated efforts from Lightning to grab a fourth, Saracens slotted a penalty in the final few minutes before Georgia Evans scored with the clock in the red to secure the victory for the London side.

By Bethan Clargo

TODAYS OPPOSITION HARLEQUINS

Harlequins is one of the oldest and most famous rugby clubs in the world. Founded in 1866, the club is a founding member of the RFU and is famous for its quartered shirt.

Harlequins has over 230 community clubs and schools affiliated locally to The Stoop, its home of over 50 years in south-west London, as well as a further eight across the world. On a playing front, Harlequins has developed successful academies and regularly provides players for international representational honours.

At this year’s Women’s World Cup, Harlequins had six players representing England, two representing Scotland, two representing Australia and one representing the USA.

In 2016, during Harlequins 150th anniversary year, the club announced that it would significantly grow its involvement in the women’s game. Developing

women’s rugby is a key element of Harlequin’s strategy which also focuses on growing the number of participants through an established pathway from grassroots to elite level.

In delivering this programme, Harlequins confirmed a new partnership with Women’s Premiership Side Aylesford Bulls Ladies. Under the stewardship of co-head coaches Gary Street and Karen Findlay, Aylesford Bulls secured a league and cup double, before the inauguration of the Premier 15s competition.

In the first season of the new league, Quins reached the final of the competition but were beaten 24-20 by Saracens Women at the Trailfinders Sports Ground, also losing to Saracens the following year. Harlequins are the only team other than Saracens to have won the Premier 15s, topping the table in the 2020-21 season.

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING STAFF

RHYS EDWARDS Director of Rugby

ELANA HOBBS Lightning Team Manager

JAMES GALLAGHER Rugby Programme Manager

KATIE THRIFT Rugby Operations

MARTA GOMEZ SANTOS Media & Marketing Lead

BRAD JONES Performance Coach

SARAH HUNTER Performance Coach

STEVE MCGINNIS Performance Coach

BETHAN CLARGO Media Marketing

MADDIE WAND Performance Analyst

TAIA TUNSTALL

Support

ALEX BREWER Performance Analyst

KATIE TREVARTHEN BUCS Head Coach

WILL GARVEY Lead Physio

NIAMH COLLINS

ADAM BURTON

EMILY SCARRATT Performace Coach

SIMON MINTON

DATE TIME OPPONENTS RESULTS 17/09/2022 13:30 A WASPS 47-17 WIN 15/10/2022 14:00 H BRISTOL BEARS 40-24 LOSS 22/10/2022 14:00 A SARACENS 23-19 LOSS 29/10/2022 TBC H SALE SHARKS 39-14 WIN 19/11/2022 TBC A SARACENS 34-21 LOSS 26/11/2022 TBC H HARLEQUINS 03/12/2022 TBC A SALE SHARKS 10/12/2022 TBC H EXETER CHIEFS 17/12/2022 TBC A BRISTOL BEARS 07/01/2023 TBC H WASPS 14/01/2023 TBC A GLOUCESTERHARTPURY 21/01/2023 TBC H DMP 28/01/2023 TBC A WORCESTER WARRIORS 04/02/2023 TBC A HARLEQUINS 18/02/2023 TBC H SALES SHARKS 25/02/2023 TBC A EXETER CHIEFS 04/03/2023 TBC H BRISTOL BEARS 11/03/2023 TBC A WASPS 13/05/2023 TBC H GLOUCESTERHARTPURY 20/05/2023 TBC A DMP 27/05/2023 TBC H WORCESTER WARRIORS 03/06/2023 TBC H SARACENS

LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS RFC

1XV FIXTURES 22/23

DATE TIME OPPONENTS RESULTS

10/09/2022 15:00 A STOURBRIDGE 25-54 WIN 17/09/2022 14:00 H EXETER 17-37 LOSS 24/09/2022 14:30 A HORNETS 40-38 LOSS 01/10/2022 14:00 H HINCKLEY 35-35 DRAW 15/10/2022 14:15 A NEWPORT 24-22 WIN 22/10/2022 14:00 H LUCTONIANS 27-24 WIN 29/10/2022 15:00 A DINGS CRUSADERS 48-24 LOSS 05/11/2022 14:00 H OLD REDCLIFFIANS 57-30 WIN 12/11/2022 14:30 A BOURNVILLE 38-38 DRAW 26/11/2022 14:00 H LEICESTER LIONS 03/12/2022 14:00 A BARNSTAPLE 10/12/2022 TBC H REDRUTH 17/12/2022 14:00 H STOURBRIDGE 07/01/2023 14:00 A EXETER 14/01/2023 14:00 H HORNETS 21/01/2023 15:00 A HINCKLEY 28/01/2023 14:00 H NEWPORT 18/02/2023 14:15 A LUCTONIANS 25/02/2023 14:00 H DINGS CRUSADERS 04/03/2023 14:00 A OLD REDCLIFIANS 11/03/2023 14:00 H BOURNVILLE 25/03/2023 14:00 A LEICESTER LIONS 01/04/2023 TBC H BARNSTAPLE 15/04/2023 14:00 A REDRUTH 22/04/2023 14:00 H CLIFTON

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