- Stadium opens 2pm, kick-off 3pm.
- Tickets for Lightning vs Bears remain on sale from £7.50 adult and £3 junior*.
- Northants acoustic duo Rustic Dream to perform during the afternoon!
- New Lightning Fan Zone inside and outside the Rodber Bar, featuring food and drink, a passing cage and face painting.
- Pick up your new Loughborough Lightning hoodies, t-shirts and caps in the Saints Store and Lightning Fan Zone.
The start of the 2024/25 Premiership Women’s Rugby season is here as Loughborough Lightning kick off their campaign this weekend with a mouth-watering clash with Bristol Bears at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
The wait is almost over for competitive women’s rugby to return to the Gardens as Nathan Smith’s side host last season’s defeated finalists on Saturday 5 October (kick-off: 3pm), hoping to clam a first victory in this head-to-head in nearly four years.
It will be stern early test of the African Violets’ top-four hopes as they target going one better than their fifth-place finish in 2023/24 to give them a chance of competing for the top prize in domestic English women's rugby in March next year.
Tickets are still available HERE, with prices starting at just £7.50 adult and £3 junior*.
For more detail on everything going on at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens (including off-pitch entertainment, opening times and other important information) please click on the titles below...
+ TICKETS
- Tickets for Lightning vs Sharks remain available to purchase online HERE – with prices starting at £7.50 adult and £3 junior*.
- Your match tickets are attached to your purchase confirmation email – please ensure you have these either printed on A4 paper, viewable on your smartphone, or added to your smartphone digital wallet before arriving at the stadium. Screenshots of your tickets are not accepted by the scanners on our turnstiles.
- Those who have not printed their tickets at home, or are not able to show their barcode on a mobile phone, will be able to have their matchday ticket printed at the Ticket Office for a £2.50 fee.
- This match is included in a Loughborough Lightning Season Ticket for the 2024/25 season – Season Ticket Holders should have received their individual match tickets for this fixture.
+ OPENING HOURS
- The Saints Store, Fan Zone Store, Ticket Office and Stadium will be open at the following times for Lightning vs Bears:
- 10am: Saints Store and Ticket Office open
- 2pm: Stadium open, Fan Zone Store and Rodber Bar open
- 3pm: Lightning vs Bears KO
- 3pm: Saints Store close
- 3.15pm: Ticket Office close
- 3.45pm: Lightning vs Bears HT
- 4.45pm (est): Lightning vs Bears FT
- 5.15pm (est): Fan Zone Store close 30 minutes after full-time
- 5.45pm (est): Bars close
- The Saints Store, Fan Zone Store, Ticket Office and Stadium will be open at the following times for Lightning vs Bears:
+ ENTERTAINMENT
- Rustic Dream will be perform live acoustic music in the new Lightning Fan Zone (based inside and outside the Rodber Bar) before and after the match.
- The Rodber Bar will also host a passing cage to test your rugby skills, and a face painter!
- A Question and Answer session will be held in front of the Carlsberg Stand with a Lightning player not participating in the match, 15 minutes before kick-off.
- Make sure you’re pitchside come the final whistle for your chance to receive a signed ball from a Lightning player.
- Then head into the Rodber Bar where a Lightning player will be assessing the match in a Q&A.
- Watch out for Bernie the Dog, who will be entertaining those in attendance throughout the afternoon.
- Watch out for our Little Saints, who will be partaking in a half-time race on the pitch!
- Also watch out for our Club of the Match, Ampthill RFC, who will be providing the Guard of Honour as the teams enter onto the field.
- Our mascot today is 11-year-old Lucy. For more information about mascot packages, please email [email protected].
+ SEASON TICKETS
- Season Tickets are still available to renew or buy for the 2024/25 season HERE – with the Ticket Office open from 10am until approximately 3.20pm on matchday for supporters wishing to purchase or renew in person.
- Prices** start from just £45 for adults and £24 for juniors.
- Lightning versus Bears is included in the 2024/25 Lightning Season Ticket.
+ ECOCUPS – PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM HOME
- Northampton Saints have made an adjustment to how EcoCups will be used and returned around cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens ahead of the 2024/25 season.
- For this season, the Club will no longer be charging a £1 deposit fee for EcoCups, having listened to supporter feedback.
- EcoCups can still be returned directly to bars or to dedicated EcoCup return bins located around cinch Stadium, with no refund now required on the cups.
- The Club asks that supporters do not collect these cups to take home, but rather return them to the bars or one of the dedicated return bins around the stadium.
- With EcoCup refunds no longer available to donate to Northampton Saints Foundation on matchdays, the Club have introduced an alternative; ‘One for the Foundation’.
- At all stadium bars, supporters will have the option to add ‘One for the Foundation’ to their drink/food orders, with £1 being added to their order total and donated straight to the charity.
+ FOOD & DRINK
- Rodber Bar will be open from 2pm. Hot and cold drinks will be available along with food options.
- Rodber Bar will close around an hour after the final whistle.
- Please be aware that cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens is a cashless stadium; all bars and food outlets will only accept card payments.
+ CAR PARKING
- Car Park D is available for supporters, priced £3.
- Car Park hangers do not apply for this fixture.
- Car Parks open from 11am.
- After the Car Parks close at 8pm on Saturday, there will be no access to any vehicle left behind until Monday morning.
- Given that cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens sits in a residential area of the town, Saints strongly urge all supporters to use the Club’s Car Parks. Should they choose not to do so, supporters must park with due care and respect for the needs of local residents and businesses.
+ SMOKING
- cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens is a NO SMOKING stadium. Smoking and the use of e-cigarettes is not permitted anywhere in the stadium or Supporter Village pre, during or post-match.
- Supporters wishing to smoke will be allowed to exit the stadium during half-time to use a designated area beside the Fan Zone outside the Rodber Bar. Stewards will be on hand to direct you and will manage exit and re-entry into the stadium.
+ OTHER IMPORTANT INFO
- The Club requests that supporters refrain from standing at the side of the pitch to watch the warm-up to prevent congestion. Please watch the warm-up from your seat.
- There will NOT be an official timekeeper in attendance at the game on Saturday, so the in-stadium clocks will not stop during the game.
- Saints’ Fan Radios will NOT be in use on Saturday.
MATCHDAY TIMINGS
| 10am | Saints Store and Ticket Office open |
| 11am | Car Parks open |
| 2pm | Stadium and Rodber Bar open |
| 2pm | Fan Zone Store open |
| 3pm | Loughborough Lightning vs Bristol Bears KO |
| 3pm | Saints Store close |
| 3.15pm | Ticket Office close |
| 3.45pm (approx) | Loughborough Lightning vs Bristol Bears HT |
| 4.45pm (approx) | Loughborough Lightning vs Bristol Bears FT |
| 5.15pm (approx 30mins after FT) | Fan Zone Store close |
| 5.45pm (approx) | Rodber Bar and Fan Zone close |
| 8pm | Car Parks close |
Next Home Match
15
Days
05
Hours
35
Mins
Sunday 5 January - 5:30pm
* All match ticket prices are subject to a £1.50 booking fee.
** All Season Ticket prices are subject to a booking fee of £2.50 per ticket.
