In her first rugby match since becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Sadia Kabeya left the cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens pitch on Sunday afternoon frustrated yet optimistic about what lies ahead of Loughborough Lightning this season.
Wearing a pair of lightning-bolt decorated pink sunglasses gifted to her by a supporter to mark her 24th birthday, there was a spring in her step, and positivity in her voice.
A return from injury for her first minutes of rugby in 2026 saw the Red Roses star play a key role in building a strong lead against Bristol Bears, including muscling her way over for a first-half try.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t to be a four or five-point gift to complete her day. Bears managed to overturn a 16-point deficit in the final 30 minutes to ultimately come away from cinch Stadium with a 21-24 victory.
“I think we expected a lot from ourselves this season,” said the 2025 World Cup winner. “Last season we might have come away from that game being happy with that performance, but this year we know we can do so much better and so much more.
“I think we will definitely take the positives away from the first half of that game and the first 20 minutes of the second half.
“There’s frustration overall, but we have a week of to rest and analyse from here. With the league now, anything can happen, we’ve just got to keep the foot on the throat and focusing on ourselves.”
Kabeya’s 28th minute try was her sixth of the season, equalling her previous best for a season after just eight appearances this term. While her own highlight reel includes eye-catching linebreaks to cross the line, Sunday’s five-pointer was similar to the majority of her efforts this term, showcasing a ruthless physical edge to turn red zone pressure into points with powerful close-range finishes.
There has been no change in approach, nor any pre-season targets set, instead, Kabeya pointed to the heavy weapons alongside her in the pack that are punching holes and laying the platform for her to capitalise.
“A lot of it is down to the way we have been playing and the amount of momentum we are getting through the likes of Mae [Sagapolu] and Ala [Lutui],” she said.
“All I’ve got to do is put the ball down over the line. In the first half, we were really dominant with the way we carried the ball, and we came in up by two tries. There were a lot of positives to take away from the first half performance.”
Despite three losses to start 2026, Lightning remain only ten points off the top four and have a game in hand to claw back some of the ground lost since the turn of the year.
Crucially, their next two games are against other teams who also harbour play-off ambitions, starting with a trip to a resurgent Sale Sharks on Saturday 7 March before hosting Harlequins – who currently occupy the final play-off place – under the Friday Night Lights on 13 March at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens – to purchase your tickets, please click HERE!
“We’ve got two really exciting games ahead,” added Kabeya. “The last two games against Sale and Harlequins were really, really close, with the win against Sale and the loss against Harlequins.
“It is still all to play for. It is all about focusing on ourselves and getting back to our best. There’s going to be battles at Sale Sharks and Friday Night Lights here, we are super excited.”