Lightning Women’s Rugby Programme - 8th January 2023

RHYS EDWARDS DIRECTOR OF RUGBY

Welcome back to Franklins Gardens for another Allianz Premier 15s Fixture. This week we host Wasps for the first time, in a crucial fixture where both teams will be looking for their first win of the season.

The pre-Christmas announcement of our successful bid to be part of AP15s 3.0 was welcome news. A lot of work has gone into preparing our bid, with our joint bid now in a position to fully come into fruition. Our already strong partnership now allows us to plan longer term and grow the women’s playing offer further and build to the professionalisation of the game.

It’s great to be back at the Gardens after our last fixture fell foul to the cold weather back in December. This is such a great place to play, and we all look forward to playing here. Last time we played was our Round 2 fixture against Harlequins, which finished in an agonising loss.

This season has proved to be a challenging one, with us having a slow start. There has been some disruption with Rugby World Cup, and injuries, but we have had some stability since over the last few rounds. Our last fixture against Bristol Bears was our best performance so far, with us tantalisingly close to getting a win.

Wasps have had an equally challenging start to the season. The men team entering administration was a wakeup call to all of us in the game. With their women’s team suffering initial uncertainty. It is great that they have

managed to stabilise and continue, but this has inevitably taken its toll. I’m sure that they will be looking to start the new year with a good performance, which makes todays fixture a potentially great encounter.

Thanks again for the support, its truly inspiring to for the players to play in front of a great crowd.

Enjoy the game!

Rhys Edwards, Director of Rugby

TODAY’S TEAMS

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING V WASPS

LEAH BARTLETT 1 1 LIZ CRAKE BRYONY FIELD 2 2 ALANA BAINBRIDGE CHRISTINE BELISLE 3 3 ANDREA STOCK EMMA WASSELL 4 4 SHYA PINNOCK CATH O’DONNELL 5 5 GEORGIA WOOD RACHEL MALCOLM 6 6 FIONA COOPER SADIA KABEYA 7 7 HELENE CAUX SARAH HUNTER 8 8 CRIS BLANCO JESS WEAVER 9 9 ELOISE HAYWOOD EMILY SCARRATT 10 10 HANNAH EDWARDS CARYS WILLIAMS-MORRIS 11 11 SOPHIE RAGG HELEN NELSON 12 12 ELLIE LENNON EMMA HARDY 13 13 MOLLY SAUNDERS LAUREN BOLGER 14 14 LIZ MUSGROVE BULOU MATAITOGA 15 15 SIAN MCGUINNES PHOEBE ANDREWS 16 16 STEVIE FARROW KATIE TREVARTHEN 17 17 CAITLIN SIMPSON DETYSHA HARPER 18 18 EMILY TUCK MORWENNA TALLING 19 19 SYDNEY MEAD DAISY HIBBERT-JONES 20 20 ALEX WILKINSON

REFEREE: SARA COX

SARA SVOBODA 21 21 AMY LAYZELL LUCY WEAVER 22 22 JESS COOKSEY BO WESTCOMBE-EVANS 23 23 POLLY ROBERTS

EMILY SCARRATT AND HELEN NELSON

MATCH REPORT

FULL TIME: LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING 14-15 SALE SHARKS

HOME TEAM (SALE SHARKS)

TRIES: Fielding 23,Perris-Redding 64 CONVERSIONS: Duffy 24

AWAY TEAM (LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING)

TRIES: Hibbert-Jones 8, Malcolm 35 CONVERSIONS: Nelson 10, 36

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING: : Tasker, Lingham, Williams, Hardy, Swartz, Nelson, Weaver, Trevarthen, Waudby, Beslisle, Ives Campion, Talling, Bradley, Malcolm, Hibbert-Jones

REPLACEMENTS: Meuller, Bartlett, Harper, Wassell, Kabeya, Luthayi, Morrall, Smart

SALE SHARKS: Duffy, Delaney, Irwin, Howard, Pursglove, Cookland, Roberts, Benson, Fielding, James, Antwis, Morrissey, Irwin V, Perris-Redding, Washington

REPLACEMENTS: Swailes, Jones, Houghton, Howat, Searcy, Waters, Bawden, Law

Loughborough Lightning fell to a narrow 15-14 defeat against Sale Sharks at Heywood Road on Saturday.

An early try from Daisy Hibbert-Jones, coupled with another from Rachel Malcolm put Lightning 14-7 ahead at the break, but Sale fought back with a Cara Cookland penalty and a try from Georgie Perris-Redding to snatch a victory.

Hibbert-Jones got Lightning off to the perfect start, gathering the ball when the home side fumbled from kick off to power over the line within 8 seconds. Helen Nelson converted successfully to put Lightning 7-0 up.

However, Sale fought their way back into the game when Lauren Delany broke off from a

driving maul to place it over Lightning’s try line, with a good conversion taking the teams level.

Just before the break, Malcolm found a gap to score Lightning’s second after several turnovers in the Sale 22.

The second half was a tense affair, with Lightning finding themselves in the opposition half for the majority of play. A Sale penalty with 20 minutes to go, however, cut Lightning’s lead down to four, before Perris-Redding took an opportunity to break down the right wing to score in the corner and secure her side’s victory.

By Bethan Clargo

TODAYS OPPOSITION WASPS

Dating from 1867, Wasps hail from Twyford Avenue, West London. Wasps Ladies (now known as Wasps) were founded in 1984 and have been involved in the Women’s Premiership since 1991.

Former England international Giselle Mather returned to the club in 2016 to become the Director of Rugby after a three-year stint previously where she won back to back titles.

Ahead of their first involvement in the Premier 15s, the club recruited a number of England internationals

such as Danielle Waterman and Rochelle Clark, and recently had a number of internationals representing their nations at the Rugby World Cup, including Abby Dow, Tess Feury and Gaia Maris.

The Club have consistently finished in the top half of the table but, much like Loughborough Lightning, are yet to make it past the semi-final stage of the competition. Yet to gain any points in the competition thus far, Wasps will be looking to get some points on the table today.

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 S&C Support

ALEX BREWER Performance Analyst

KATIE TREVARTHEN BUCS Head Coach

WILL GARVEY Lead Physio

BETHAN CROUSE

NIAMH COLLINS

Support

ADAM BURTON S&C Lead ADAM CROSSMAN

EMILY SCARRATT Performace Coach

SIMON MINTON

Support

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING FIXTURES 2022/23

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 14:00 H SALE SHARKS 39-14 WIN 19/11/2022 14:30 A SARACENS 34-21 LOSS 26/11/2022 14:00 H HARLEQUINS 24-25 LOSS 03/12/2022 14:00 A SALE SHARKS 14-15 LOSS 10/12/2022 14:00 H EXETER CHIEFS 52-5 LOSS 17/12/2022 14:30 A BRISTOL BEARS 26-31 LOSS 08/01/2023 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 34-28 LOSS 03/12/2022 14:00 A BARNSTAPLE 36-33 LOSS 10/12/2022 TBC H REDRUTH 33-32 LOSS 17/12/2022 14:00 H STOURBRIDGE 34-21 WIN 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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