Interim Head Coach Rachel Taylor believes the experience Loughborough Lightning’s young side will take from their 36-24 loss to Sale Sharks will be massive for the squad.
The African Violets travelled north to the Morson Stadium with a matchday 23 that contained seven debutants and nine more players with ten or fewer Lightning outings to their name.
But they delivered a stellar performance and were level in the final ten minutes before the hosts’ extra experience told, as they managed ten late unanswered points to limit the visitors to a try-scoring bonus point from their JAECOO Next Gen Cup opener.
“I’m super proud,” said Taylor, who has stepped up into the hotseat during Nathan Smith’s secondment with Canada. “I think there was a bit of rabbits in the headlights in that first 40 minutes, but it was really pleasing to see our ability to adapt in game. For such a young group, that was hugely encouraging – the understanding of how to get ourselves back into the match, and a bit of belief, really helped.”
Debutant Izzy Clist and Ellie Tromans landed first-half tries before Amy Layzell, also on debut, secured a brace in the second period – which Lightning largely dominated but did not get the scoreboard reward for their territorial upper hand.
“We should be proud of giving themselves a chance to win, and proud of the game management elements. It’s our first match of the season, so for those aspects to already be where they are is a really pleasing sign. You look at someone like Ella Barnes, in only her second game, and her game management was excellent.
“We came into pre season a little later than some other teams, so we always knew there might be areas where we were playing catch up. But physically we looked in a really good place. There’s still stuff we haven’t had the chance to go through yet, and that showed at times, but some of the set piece, the scrum and lineout, was brilliant. Even our most experienced players are still really young – it’s easy to forget someone like Daisy [Hibbert-Jones] has only just turned 24 – but their awareness and ability to control a game is huge.
“We haven’t had a pre season friendly, so this was the first time we’ve gone 80 minutes, and to finish as strongly as we did in the second half is something we should be really proud of.
“The experience this group will take from today is massive. We can’t get away from it – we are a young group – but that’s what we’re about: exposing players and helping them grow. To come away from home, in a noisy venue with a great crowd behind Sale, and handle that as well as they did was impressive.
“Playing against an experienced side, we could easily have shied away after a tough start and going 14 points down, but to hang in there and claw it back was really pleasing.”
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