Lightning have come along way this season, says Smith

There was no escaping Nathan Smith’s disappointment after Loughborough Lightning’s stoppage-time loss to Exeter Chiefs, but the head coach provided a key reference point that measures his side’s growth in a short space of time.

The African Violets were ahead by a point as the clock passed 80 minutes at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday, and a second memorable home victory in succession was tantalisingly within reach.

However, they wouldn’t back up that first-ever win over Saracens with a first victory in seven attempts against Exeter as the visitors rolled over a maul to break Lightning hearts.

It was a big turnaround from the reverse fixture in November 2024 at Sandy Park when Exeter were dominant in a 40-19 success.

“I said to the girls afterwards, you're going to play against big teams and you’re going to fall either side of the line and unfortunately we fell the wrong side this time,” said Smith. 

“We’ve come a long way to say that we should’ve beaten Exeter. However, we haven’t, we’ve fallen the wrong side of the line. We just need to keep developing our game and moving forward. 

“I thought some really positive moments within the game. I felt we we were pretty slow to start. We let Exeter put their game on us however, after about 20 minute I thought we were we were the better side and unfortunate not to come away with the four points.”

On the occasion of her 50th Lightning appearance, Emily Scarratt was pivotal to her side’s performance, producing a brilliant crossfield kick that put Exeter on the backfoot for Alev Kelter’s score.

In the second half, the 116-times capped Red Roses combined a brilliant break with a pinpoint crossfield kick for Krissy Scurfield’s try – then followed it up with what was so close to a match-winning penalty.

“Scaz is great for the group,” added Smith. “I think what a lot of people don’t appreciate is she is a player/coach, she works closely with the backs and then developing the younger players within the team. I thought she was brilliant at 13 and 10, she fulfilled both roles as well as you'd expected to do.”

Lightning have just three games of their 2024/25 season remaining, starting with the short trip to Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday (kick-off: 12.45pm) to take on Leicester Tigers.

“We’ve got a tough game against Tigers and we need to be bang on the money,” said Smith. “We have got a six-day turn around but we will be throwing ourselves into it on Tuesday and preparing for another big challenge ahead.”