Smith: Pure guts delivered Lightning victory away at Bristol Bears

‘Pure guts’ delivered Loughborough Lightning a sensational away victory over Bristol Bears, according to head coach Nathan Smith.

The African Violets withstood an early onslaught from the hosts at a sold-out Shaftesbury Park to score two tries in the first period and three more after the break to take maximum points home with a 22-31 win.

“I said to the girls at the end, that wasn’t achieved with marvellous attack or structured defence, that was just pure guts,” said Smith.

The away-day success was Lightning’s fourth win in six games and was a far cry from the first meeting of the sides this term, when Bristol ran out 19-46 winners at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens back in October 2024.

“There was the result at the start of the year, then last season we got rolled twice by Bristol,” added Smith. “They’re a good team. For us to do what we did today shows our growth. I don’t think Bristol played poorly, it was a good game of rugby and we have come out on top so I am very happy.”

Hookers Kathryn Treder and Elis Martin both landed tries as did Alev Kelter, while Krissy Scurfield crossed the line once in each half to take her tally to 14 in 12 games, a remarkable return for Canadian Olympic Sevens silver medallist in her first season of senior 15-a-side rugby.

The 21-year-old will now rejoin the Canadian Sevens set-up as they prepare for the HSBC SVNS Vancouver, which runs from Friday 21 February to Sunday 23 February.

“I've got so much time for Krissy as a rugby player and a human being,” explained Smith.  “I think she has been incredible for the environment. She has come from sevens, it is a tough transition, you watched her away at Quins right at the start of her time with us, and it was all a little bit too much. 

“You look at her now, she’s scored 14 tries for the year and she is one of the most threatening players in attack in Premiership Women’s Rugby, she has done incredibly well to be where she is today.”

Also departing the Midlands for a plane heading across the Atlantic is fellow Canadian, Courtney Holtkamp. The 25-year-old lock re-joined Lightning for a short-term second spell and was hugely influential in five matches in an African Violet shirt.

“It was only ever going to be a short-term deal, but we will miss her,” said Smith. “You can see from her performances how good she has been for us. We lost Cath O’Donnell and Emma Wassell right at the start of the season, that’s a lot of experience to lose in the lock position. 

“Abby Duguid has done a tremendous job but you can’t play every single minute so it was brilliant to get Courtney back. She has not only performed well on the field, she has really grown the environment and really added to what we are building here at Lightning.

“Over my time with Lightning and especially this season, we have been very fortunate with our Canadian imports. I can’t speak highly enough of them as people, their attitude to learning and getting better is brilliant. Athletically they are off the charts and it’s a relationship [with Canadian players] we hope to continue moving forward.”