Loughborough Lightning interim Head Coach Rachel Taylor felt her side struggled to convert opportunities into points in Saturday’s 42-12 defeat to Exeter Chiefs.
Despite tries either side of half-time from Ellie Tromans and Amelia Williams, the hosts ultimately proved too much for a young travelling Lightning side to overcome.
“There’s definitely a feeling of disappointment,” Taylor explained.
“I thought we did well to be in the fight in the first half, and there were some pleasing parts, but ultimately, we failed to convert our opportunities.
“We’d worked pretty hard multiple times to get into their 22, but just couldn’t convert. And fair play to Exeter, I thought they managed those periods just before and after the break really well, taking their opportunities, and that was a bit of a sucker punch to us, really.”
Saturday’s fixture against Exeter saw a further three debutants take the field in African Violet - India King, Emily Heaps and Mary McDonagh - taking the total debutants across the three JAECOO Next Gen Cup period to eleven.
“I’m pleased there was a lot of determination, heart, and fight in this group to stay in it for the full game,” Taylor continued.
“And I’m really pleased that players got their opportunities to get their debuts, which is obviously what this Cup period is being used for as a squad, and those players’ development across this period is massive.
“It’s really pleasing for those guys to get this experience, and for us to take some positives from the weekend. I think it just gives us an opportunity to learn where some players are in terms of their development and who’s ready to make that jump into the league.
“Defensively, we can be pleased; at times, our set piece looked really good. I think we probably weren’t at our usual selves in our attacking game today. We want to play high-speed rugby, and you need to have quick ball in order to do that.
“That’ll be one for us to go back and have a look at. But some stuff was really pleasing, there were some standout individual performances, and it was great to have some people back from injury again.”
Lightning must now turn their attention to their final fixture of the JAECOO Next Gen Cup group stages with an East Midlands Derby against Leicester Tigers on Saturday 17 October (kick-off: 2pm) – a match that is being staged at Loughborough University. The match is free to attend for Lightning Season Ticket holders (which are still available by clicking HERE), and match tickets are available by clicking HERE.
On next Saturday’s fixture at the University, Taylor added, “Whether it’s the Cup or the League, a fixture against Tigers is always a big derby, so for us it will probably be about bottling up some of that frustration from the last two weeks and making sure we take positives out of this last game as a group.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to play at the University in front of the student population, and we just need to go out and show who we are.”
Loughborough Lightning 2026/27 Season Tickets are still on sale priced from £70 adult and £25 child. To purchase yours or for more information, please click HERE.