Chloe Rollie: ‘We need to back up Sale performance’

Chloe Rollie has been an ever-present in the Loughborough Lightning starting line-up in the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby this season since returning from international duty.

The fullback was absent for the Allianz Cup campaign as she helped guide Scotland to the inaugural WXV2 title in South Africa alongside her clubmates Rachel Malcolm, Emma Wassell, Christine Belisle and Helen Nelson – all of whom start against Exeter Chiefs this weekend.

Rollie joined Lightning in January from Chiefs and has gone on to make 12 appearances scoring two tries in the process.

Lightning go into their Round 6 game off the back of a bonus point victory away at Sale Sharks in Round 5 with the focus now being on signing off 2023 with a win…

Q: How important is it to carry on the momentum of the Sale Sharks victory against Exeter Chiefs?
CR: Our aim this week is to have back-to-back performances. We performed against Leicester Tigers and then we had a really tough game against Bristol, then performed against Sale, it’s about backing that up.

It is about doing it on the bounce and showing how hard we have been working in training over the last six months. We need to put that on the pitch a second time around. And having that confidence and belief to do that. The belief, work rate and the want to do that is massive for us going into this weekend.

Q: How much are you looking forward to playing one of your former clubs?
CR: I think for me it is exciting. I love to challenge myself and I think going against an opposition who were once teammates is big for me. I enjoy interacting with old teammates on the pitch, having a laugh and making it a bit fun. When you are playing a team you have played for before there’s always that element of it. 

Obviously, you are very, very focused on doing your job. But, it kind of just makes you feel a bit more comfortable and at ease, because you are excited for what is in front of you.  That’s definitely the thing for me, I am excited to see how I can perform, one-on-one match-ups against opposition who were once teammates is really exciting.

Q: It’s Lightning’ s second PWR game of the season at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, what’s it like playing your home games there?
CR: I really enjoy it at Gardens. It is an amazing pitch, as a back you always want a pitch that is looked after and it is nice to run on.

The atmosphere is good too, we get a lot of fans along which can be little girls, little boys, parents, adults, they’re always up for a chat after the game which is really nice to have.

It just makes it feel like a home from home almost. I have only played there a handful of times so far. Even in my first game I settled in really well. Even though it is branded as Northampton Saints, we’ve got our little touch on it now which is nice going forward and it makes you feel a part of that the club and its future as well.

Q: After this weekend’s match, the team is having a week off, how much are you looking forward to some time off over Christmas?
CR: We are all looking forward to a break. It does build up, week after week. We did have a bye week, but you don’t fully switch off. You’re still thinking about what the next game is coming up and what you can do to be better, to be in the best place for that game. I think we are all at a point right now where we are really excited for the time off but we are still focusing on Exeter.

Q: How successful has the first block of games been for Lightning?
CR: The first block has been pretty successful so far. We’ve got a couple of wins under our belt which is hugely positive and a confidence booster for us, especially with how we finished last season. We really struggled there and motivation was really low.

So, the way things have gone has been really positive. We’ve targeted the teams we really want to go towards and we’ve got success from there. It is just about building from here as well. We are not going to wake up one day and it is all going to be changed and we are all going to be world class, amazing at our structure and amazing with Nathan as our new head coach. It does take time, but I do think we can definitely take positives from what has happened so far and take that into the next block after Christmas.

We got the win against Sale which always make things a bit better, then we had our Christmas social when we got back. We had a little drink and a little decompress, the music was on. It was nice to be able to switch off and think about going out to have a good time with your teammates, getting to know them better and connect with them better in a different environment.