Wassell: Lightning need to front up against Sale Sharks

‘Energy and enthusiasm’ has been in no short supply among the Loughborough Lightning squad building into this weekend’s clash with Sale Sharks according to experienced forward Emma Wassell.

After the high of defeating Leicester Tigers on the road in Round 3, Nathan Smith’s side were beaten at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens last weekend by Bristol Bears , who returned south with maximum points from a 46-17 success.

But with key players returning for Saturday’s trip to Heywood Road and positives gleaned from the loss last time out, Wassell explained that a spring remains in the step of those in African Violet shirts despite the setback.

“It was quite a hard review on Monday and there was some tough conversations, we weren’t by any means happy with that performance,” said Wassell, who has started all three of Loughborough’s Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby fixtures so far this season.

Focusing on the things Lightning did well last time out, the 28-year-old added: “From a setpiece point of view, that was a huge positive we could take. Their [Bristol] maul has been quite dangerous for them and we kept that at bay until the very end of the game. We defended their lineout very well and I also think given the size of their players, our scrum was stable and quite good as well.

“We did create a lot of opportunities and got into the areas that we want to be in but just didn’t finish them off and that’s probably the real frustration. Then letting some of their key players run the show a bit, we let them come at us which was frustrating but it has been something we will hopefully fix.”

Saturday’s opponents Sale also suffered at the hands of Bristol Bears in Round 1 before bouncing back with a big victory over Harlequins. But they have suffered successive match postponements resulting in a three-week gap in fixtures.

“They have had two games cancelled in a row so they have not played as frequently as we have,” explained Wassell, who moves from the back row to lock this weekend. “That can work in different ways. They will be absolutely raring to go and they got that huge win against Harlequins so are probably feeling quite confident going into this.

"Sale are a hugely physical side as well and that is something which we really need to front up against, something that I don’t think we did against Bristol. We want to go out there and impose ourselves first. 

“You’re going up to the north and they’re not going to make your life easy and we know that and we need to be prepared for that. It is going to be a challenging game. We know what they can bring, it is just about us being able to front up to that and finish off those opportunities we are creating when we get into the right areas of the park.”