This season, for the first time, every Premiership Women’s Rugby match has been and will be screened live. It’s a development that has gone down particularly well for the family of Loughborough Lightning centre, Carmela Morrall.
As a teenager, she left the United Arab Emirates – where her rugby career had taken off – and her family behind to chase her rugby-playing dream within the Loughborough University development pathway.
Her parents, Graham and Penny, for the most part have willed their middle of three children on from afar as she made her Lightning debut as a fresh-faced 18-year-old in November 2022 as a replacement against Harlequins.
Remarkably, a little over three years later, Morrall led her teammates out at the StoneX Stadium to take on Saracens on her 50th appearance for the African Violets, in a game streamed live on BBC iPlayer.
“My dad and my brother were watching from back home in Dubai,” said Morrall. “My mum actually managed to fly over to see the game, so my mum and sister were there watching. Having their support at the game and from afar meant a lot to me.
“It was actually my dad who mentioned the 50th appearance was coming a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting it to come this quick. It was a really big thing for me, I was proud to lead the team out and proud of the performance we put out.”
Nine outings in season one was followed by a remarkable 18 in the 2023/24 campaign as the powerful and creative centre also played a key role for Loughborough University in BUCS Super Rugby.
While that fast start to life in senior rugby expedited her recent appearance milestone, it didn’t come without its challenges.
“It has been very up and down for me,” she explained. “I came in so young, and I think you don’t expect to be involved that early, that kind of threw a spanner in the works. But I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.
“Being at Loughborough, the close link with the BUCS programme is such a good opportunity. If you look back to last season, I wasn’t getting the game time for Lightning that I potentially wanted, so I had that outlet to play some really high-level rugby with BUCS, while still being involved with Lightning at the same time. That was a good development opportunity for me.”
The 2024/25 campaign saw some considerable talent added to the midfield options at head coach Nathan Smith’s disposal. By then, Emily Scarratt had returned to form and fitness following her recovery from a lengthy lay-off, and the Red Roses’ legend had her eyes set on impressing in African Violet to earn a shot at participating in a fifth Rugby World Cup.
Smith also drafted in former Saracens and three-time Olympian with USA Sevens, Alev Kelter, who formed an experienced midfield partnership with Scarratt that would be a mainstay in Lightning’s strong second half of the season.
“To be able to learn off the likes of Nelly [Helen Nelson], Scaz and Alev in that season and just keep watching, keep learning off them, was an awesome experience for me,” Morrall reflected.
“To begin with, it was quite frustrating, because as a player, you always want to be involved, you always want to be on the pitch. But I had some good chats with Nathan midway through the season because he could tell that I was beginning to get frustrated.
“The chats I had with him flipped my mindset. I’ve got two of the best centres in the world that I am training with. So, it was the best opportunity to learn from the best. I just kept my head down and kept working hard, then my opportunity started coming towards the back end of the season, which I was really grateful for.”
A run of eight appearances as a replacement came to an end against this weekend’s opponents, Bristol Bears, in their last head-to-head at Shaftesbury Park back in February 2025.
While so much of the pre-match attention for the fixture centred around Bristol’s big-name centre Ilona Maher, it was the combination of Morrall and Scarratt in the opposition’s midfield that would have the most telling impact on the pitch in a 22-31 victory for Lightning.
“It was my first real opportunity last season when Nathan gave me the nod to start,” Morrall reflected. “I knew in myself I had to prove a point and perform. Playing inside and outside, some of the girls at Lightning, make my job a lot easier. I think going into that game having Scaz outside me gave me a lot of confidence to just back myself and play what I see. You don’t have to stress about things as much.”
The Morrall-Scarratt partnership was given one more outing for the final game last term against Trailfinders, in what proved to be Scarratt’s final club appearance before going on to win an eleventh Six Nations title and a second World Cup, before announcing her retirement in October.
Morrall has grabbed the opportunity in the Lightning midfield, starting all nine Lightning games so far this season – the only player to achieve that feat. However, her mentor’s presence is still keenly felt on the coaching field.
“It is quite a weird one,” she admitted. “Being my age, Scaz was one of the people that I watched growing up. So, for me coming over here, to be involved in an environment where Scaz is, was quite unbelievable to start with. She is one of the best to do it and one of the best coaches, too.
“Anything that I have queries about, it is always Scaz coming up to me and making sure I am alright, checking in or seeing if I want to have a catch-up in the week.
The esteem in which Smith holds Morrall was reflected in him making her vice-captain for the first game of the current campaign. That ‘vice’ prefix was swiftly removed when captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones withdrew due to illness on the day of the clash with Sale Sharks in the opening round of PWR: The Cup back in August.
While Morrall admitted the unexpected promotion was ‘stressful’ at first, she embraced the captaincy role and hasn’t looked back from that fast start, and is one of the first names on Smith’s Lightning team sheets.
“Playing week-in, week-out, I love it, I am not complaining about that at all,” said the England U20 international. “I love playing rugby! In terms of the season itself, since the start of me being at Lightning, this is the best start of the season we’ve had as a team.
“I think it is down to as a collective, we are such a tight-knit group, and we have the belief in each other and ourselves that we can go and be a top-four team and put performance out each week.
“This season is the first season that we’ve really seen it flourish and come to life. It is really exciting for the rest of the season to come, but also, as a team, we are really proud of what we have done so far.”