Loughborough Lightning head coach Nathan Smith credited Helena Rowland for her moment of individual brilliance that settled their final round Premiership Women’s Rugby clash with Trailfinders.
The Friday night spoils at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens – and with it a sixth-place finish – look destined to be return to Ealing as the visitors led with a minute to play, before Red Roses flyhalf Rowland slotted over a dropgoal to seal a 36-34 victory.
“It was a great game of rugby,” said Smith. ‘We made hard work of it at times, I thought there was some really good bits of phase play and phase defence and we looked really dominant at times, especially in the set piece and the driving maul. However, fair play to Ealing, they have a particular brand of rugby that gets them back into games.
“It was tight at the end, but Helena, under pressure, scores a drop goal.
“I can say we’ve never trained or practiced that, well done to Helena for dropping the three in the last minute to win the game.”
Nathan Smith
Lightning scored five tries during the contest with Kathryn Treder crossing the line twice and was followed by Lilli Ives Campion, Emily Scarratt and Helena Rowland.
But Trailfinders equalled that try-tally and Julia Schell’s late penalty seemed destined to settle the contest – only for her opposite number to have the final say.
“It has been a tough season with the back-to-back nature of it,” added Smith. “I felt we were a little bit cooked in the second half, the bench came on and did really well and really added to the performance.
“Essentially, good sides can win ugly and in that last ten minutes we found a way to win ugly. It is something that is going through the club at the moment, the BUCS side won 13-12 against Cardiff Met on Wednesday with a last-minute kick to win it, it is a nice habit to pick up.”
A strong crowd of 1,334 people were in attendance to witness a first Friday night Lightning game at the Gardens – more than 13,000 also watched the game on the club’s first YouTube live stream.
“The crowd has been awesome,” said Smith. “I think it being on a Friday night makes it a spectacle. When you are under the lights, there’s a bit more of an atmosphere and I thought the crowd really did play their part and really did buoy us in to get the win.”
