Red Roses international Helena Rowland will make her first Loughborough Lightning appearance of the season against Exeter Chiefs this weekend.
Head coach Nathan Smith has selected the 25-year-old at fly-half for Sunday’s Premiership Women’s Rugby Round 6 trip to Sandy Park (kick-off: 3pm) with Helen Nelson moving infield to inside centre and into the co-captaincy role alongside number eight, Daisy Hibbert-Jones.
Rowland is one of three personnel changes from Lightning’s last outing against Harlequins as Rachel Malcolm (ankle) and Bo Westcombe-Evans (knee) miss out due to injuries.
Bulou Mataitoga, who impressed from the bench in the narrow loss to Harlequins in Round 4, comes into the side on the right wing and Abby Duguid returns from her suspension and partners Lilli Ives Campion in the second row.
The reshuffle of the matchday squad sees Krissy Scurfield, who made her Lightning and PWR debut at The Stoop, move from the right to left wing, and Hallie Taufoou switches to the back row.
Fullback Fran Goldthorp, outside centre Emily Scarratt and Megan Davey retain their positions in the starting line-up, as do the front-row trio of Isla Curphey, Elis Martin and Laura Keates and flanker Kendall Waudby packs down on the back row for a fifth successive game.
The five forwards among the replacements; Kathryn Treder, Amelia Williams, Christine Belisle, Issy Winter and Becky Boyd – the league’s most prolific tackler (64) – remain unchanged.
Scrum-half Lucy Weaver is included on the bench, while Ellie Tromans and Carmela Morrall are the other backs options available to Smith.
“We travel to Exeter with no fear and with excitement at the challenge ahead,” said Smith. “We’ve been building up to the match for two weeks and now I just want to see a performance that reflects the way we have trained and builds on our strong performance against Harlequins.”
Loughborough Lightning’s next home match at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens is the East Midlands Derby with Leicester Tigers on Saturday 23 November (kick-off: 3pm). Tickets are available priced from just £7.50* adults and £3* juniors – click HERE to book yours.
EXETER CHIEFS vs LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING
Premiership Women’s Rugby, Round 6
Sunday 10 November, 2024
Kick-off: 3pm
15 Fran Goldthorp
14 Bulou Mataitoga
13 Emily Scarratt
12 Helen Nelson (cc)
11 Krissy Scurfield
10 Helena Rowland
9 Megan Davey
1 Isla Curphey
2 Elis Martin
3 Laura Keates
4 Abby Duguid
5 Lilli Ives Campion
6 Hallie Taufoou
7 Kendall Waudby
8 Daisy Hibbert-Jones
Replacements:
16 Kathryn Treder
17 Amelia Williams
18 Christine Belisle
19 Issy Winter
20 Becky Boyd
21 Lucy Weaver
22 Ellie Tromans
23 Carmela Morrall
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