Loughborough Lightning have made three changes to their starting line-up for their penultimate Premiership Women’s Rugby game of the 2024/25 season, away at Bristol Bears.
Fresh from scoring her second try of the campaign from the bench away at Leicester Tigers, Carmela Morrall starts at inside centre at a sold-out Shaftesbury Park on Saturday 1 February (kick-off: 2pm).
The England Under-20 international makes her 40th Lightning appearance in the centres alongside Emily Scarratt, with Alev Kelter rotated to a place amongst the replacements.
Head coach Nathan Smith has also returned Laura Keates to the front row, with Christine Belisle providing the tighthead cover having grabbed her second try of the season in the 61-12 victory at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
A further change sees Lilli Ives Campion start in the second row, with Hallie Taufoou providing cover across the second and back rows as a replacement.
Red Rose Ives Campion will be partnered at lock by Canada international Courtney Holtkamp, who plays the fifth and final game of her latest short-term spell with the African Violets.
Co-captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones continues her remarkable record of starting every Lightning PWR game this season from number eight, and stretches her run of consecutive league and cup game starts to 30, a sequence that began in December 2023.
She is joined on the back row by player of the match against Tigers and fellow co-captain, Rachel Malcolm, while Sadia Kabeya operates from openside for an eighth-consecutive game.
The pack is completed by loosehead prop Anne Young and hooker Kathryn Treder, who landed her 16th try in 25 outings for the Club last time out.
Meg Davey and Helena Rowland – who moved level with Emily Scarratt as Lightning’s all-time leading point scorer (255) with her try and eight conversions at Mattioli Woods Welford Road – remain as the half-back partnership.
The league’s joint second-highest tryscorer Krissy Scurfield will look to add to her haul of 12 in 11 games on the left wing, while Bulou Mataitoga moves within one appearance of a half century in African Violet on the right wing.
Hooker Elis Martin and loosehead, prop Amelia Williams, lock Abby Duguid, flanker Kendall Waudby and scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden are the other replacements as Lightning operate with a six-two split between forwards and backs for their penultimate match of the 2024/25 campaign.
“It was great to see our performance on both side of the ball reflect what we have been working on in training against Leicester Tigers,” said head coach Nathan Smith. “The challenge now for us is to maintain those high levels and play with confidence against a Bristol side that need a win to keep their top-four hopes alive.
“We have come a long way since the last time we met Bristol in our opening game of the season back in October. This is a great opportunity for us to show our growth out there on the field and all the hard work we have been putting in to develop as a group.”
BRISTOL BEARS VS LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING
Premiership Women’s Rugby, Round 16
Saturday 1 February, 2025
Kick-off: 2pm
15 Francesca Goldthorp
14 Bulou Mataitoga
13 Emily Scarratt
12 Carmela Morrall
11 Krissy Scurfield
10 Helena Rowland
9 Meg Davey
1 Anne Young
2 Kathryn Treder
3 Laura Keates
4 Courtney Holtkamp
5 Lilli Ives Campion
6 Rachel Malcolm (cc)
7 Sadia Kabeya
8 Daisy Hibbert-Jones (cc)
Replacements:
16 Elis Martin
17 Amelia Williams
18 Christine Belisle
19 Abby Duguid
20 Hallie Taufoou
21 Kendall Waudby
22 Leia Brebner-Holden
23 Alev Kelter
Unavailable for selection: Emma Wassell, Cath O’Donnell, Catherine Wells, Ellie Roberts, Bo Westcombe-Evans, Helen Nelson, Grace Clifford, Isla Curphey, Alicia Maude.
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