Loughborough Lightning head into their Friday Night Lights match at Goldington Road against Saracens, having made two personnel changes and four positional switches for the JAECOO Next Gen Cup encounter.
There’s a welcome return to a Lightning matchday squad for Catherine Wells, whose two-and-a-half year injury lay-off ends with her packing down at tighthead prop at the home of Bedford Blues (kick-off: 7.30pm – tickets are still available by clicking HERE).
The other switch made by Interim Head Coach Rachel Taylor sees Aoibhe Kelly start at scrum-half, having featured as a replacement in the Round 1 loss to Sale Sharks a fortnight ago.
There’s a reshuffle of the pack as Kaya Acton shifts left to blindside lock, with Tamsin Baynes joining her in the second row. Replacing her at blindside flanker is Daisy Hibbert-Jones, allowing Haineala Lutui to pack down at No.8 having been an unused substitute for the Red Roses against New Zealand at Allianz Stadium last weekend.
Five of Lightning’s seven debutants at Morson Stadium go again in Lightning’s second game of the 2026/27 season, including fullback Amy Layzell after scoring two tries in that game and outside centre Izzy Clist, who opened her tryscoring account too.
Prop Bayley Jurkowski is set to make her debut for the club as a replacement.
Primed to make their first Lightning appearances of the season from the bench are scrum-half Ashton Adcock, centre Molly Luthayi while flanker Sarah Shrestha could make her fourth Lightning outing nearly three years after her third.
“We’re excited to step into new territory in what is notoriously a strong rugby hotbed, and there’s something special about Friday night rugby under the lights,” said Taylor. “It’s a great opportunity for us to take our brand and the energy we bring to a new crowd, and we’re really looking forward to embracing the occasion and putting our style of rugby on show.
“There were a tremendous amount of positives to take from the Sale Sharks match, particularly in the way we competed and some of the things we put on the field. We’ve had a couple of weeks to build on those areas, develop our game and continue to grow as a group, and we’re really looking forward to putting that to the test against such strong opposition in Saracens.”
Loughborough Lightning vs Saracens
JAECOO Next Gen Cup, Round 3
Friday 2 October, Kick-Off: 7.30pm
Goldington Road, Bedford
15 Amy Layzell (1)
14 Alice Bennett (1)
13 Izzy Clist (1)
12 Carmela Morrall (62)
11 Ellie Tromans (7)
10 Ella Barnes (2)
9 Aiobhe Kelly (4)
1 Amelia Williams (32)
2 Harli Stanton (1)
3 Catherine Wells (8)
4 Kaya Acton (5)
5 Tamsin Baynes (6)
6 Daisy Hibbert-Jones (70)
7 Ellie Roberts (11) – captain
8 Haineala Lutui (20)
Replacements:
16 Polly Peterson (3)
17 Churchy Knight (2)
18 Bayley Jurkowski – Lightning debut #
19 Sasha Roberts (1)
20 Sarah Shrestha (3)
21 Ashton Adcock (2)
22 Molly Luthayi (13)
23 Freya MacColl (3)
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.