Loughborough Lightning captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones has targeted a strong start to the brand-new Premiership Women’s Rugby season this Friday as Lightning take part in the league opener at the Stoop against Harlequins (24 October, kick-off: 7:30pm).
The African Violets ended the 2024/25 PWR season on a strong run of form, winning five of their last seven fixtures.
It included a first-ever win against Saracens, and then finishing the final two rounds with a first win against Bristol in three years, and then a dramatic success at cinch Stadium over Trailfinders courtesy of a last-minute drop-goal from Helena Rowland.
“We haven’t played a Premiership game since February, so I’m chomping at the bit to get stuck in on Friday under the lights,” said Hibbert-Jones, who is Lightning’s sole captain this year after sharing the role last term with Rachel Malcolm.
“It’s a great way to kick off the season. I think for the past few seasons our games with Harlequins have been really competitive.
“It’s definitely not only a great game for us to start our season, but also to start the whole Premiership season. It will be an exciting game, they’ve got incredible talent just like us and players that are very established on the Premiership and international stage, so it will be great for us to go toe-to-toe with them.
“It’s been a while since we were in that position, but I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t do that this year and compete with those teams.
“We showed that last year and want to have the best start to a PWR season that the Lightning have ever had.”
With the first game of the season just a few days away, legend of the game Emily Scarratt announced her retirement from rugby on Tuesday morning after two World Cup wins, 11 Six Nations titles, 119 Red Roses caps and 53 appearances for Lightning.
“She let the team know on Tuesday night that she’d be retiring,” Hibbert-Jones continued.
“She’s so humble that she’s happy to finish it on her own terms now and will be hugely missed, but it’s great that she’ll be staying on as an assistant coach and have her as a mentor.
“Her experiences are invaluable, and the knowledge that she can pass on is going to be instrumental for the whole squad.
“Scaz is known as the GOAT for a reason; she probably is the best to have ever done it in English rugby, and the career that she’s had is wild.
“When you think about the age of some of our squad, some of them have grown up with her on the telly and as a role model, so to be able to work with her is exciting for everyone.
“I think the whole group can safely say she has paved the way for the women’s game, so it’s sad to see her hang up the boots and the kneepads!
“She’s already done a lot of coaching with our BUCS teams, and almost effectively was a player-coach anyway last season, so she’ll be that person people can turn to, and we’re lucky to have kept her and glad she’ll be sticking around.”
The 2025/26 PWR season gets underway off the back of a historic Rugby World Cup in which 17 Lightning players were selected to represent their countries.
“The World Cup was evident that people want to go and watch women’s rugby,” Hibbert-Jones added.
“There were so many PWR players playing across the tournament, not just in the Red Roses squad but across all of the countries, so the people who have watched those internationals now can come to the PWR and follow their favourite players.
“The league is hugely accessible and available to watch, all of the games are now on TV, and the World Cup has just elevated it to a different level, and I think we’ll see the rewards of it for the next couple of seasons.”