Loughborough Lightning head coach Nathan Smith highlighted his side’s defensive resolve that was integral to them going toe-to-toe with Saracens at the StoneX Stadium.
The visitors trailed by just three points with six minutes remaining in Saturday’s Round 8 Premiership Women’s Rugby encounter, with Krissy Scurfield, Fran Goldthorp and Alev Kelter all landing tries with Emily Scarratt sending over three excellent conversions.
However, they would return to the East Midlands without boosting their end column on the league table as Saracens secured maximum points with a fourth try late on from Fancy Bermudez, which followed previous efforts from Zoe Harrison – who would end the contest with 17 points – Alysha Corrigan and McKinley Hunt.
“I am really proud of the girls’ efforts,” said Smith after the 32-21 loss. “I thought we weathered the storm on a few occasions during the game. There was some real pride in defending our line, we held the ball up two or three times. I thought there was some exceptional effort there and some real dog to keep them out and stay in the game, right up until the 75th minute.
“We are miles better than where we were at this time last season, but we are just not where we need to be at the moment to win these big games.
“The girls are gutted, they have emptied themselves, I can’t ask for any more from them than that.”
Nathan Smith
“We could’ve been smarter at times within the game, but, it wasn’t meant to be.”
Lightning lost Helena Rowland to a first-half injury but did welcome back another Red Rose in the form of Sadia Kabeya, who arrived into proceedings at half-time for her first club appearance since June – which also came against Saracens.
“I wanted to get Sadia on at half-time,” said Smith. “I thought we lacked a bit of punch in the first half. It was good to have her back out there.
“There was a lot of positive performances out there. You forget people like Kendall [Waudby], she has probably played every minute of every game so far this season and look where she's come from. When you think this time last season she was here, playing hooker, now she is here as a flanker and did really well as she has done all season. She should be proud of where she has come from.”
Next up for Lightning is the visit of Gloucester-Hartpury to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday 8 December (kick-off: 3pm), when the African Violets will bid to back up the victory over Leicester Tigers in their last home outing.
“There’s no easy games in the PWR as everyone is finding out, rapidly,” explained Smith. “We have got to dust ourselves down. It’s nice it’s a Sunday, we get an extra day to recover because the girls have put a big shift in.”
Tickets for the Round 9 match against Gloucester-Hartpury are available priced from £7.50* adult and £3* juniors and are available by clicking HERE.
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