A 60-point thriller at Morson Stadium agonisingly ended in Sale Sharks’ favour as Loughborough Lightning headed home with the consolation of two match points from a 31-29 defeat.
Lightning were a dozen points to the good at the interval with Alev Kelter and Lilli Ives Campion landing tries and Helen Nelson adding two successful conversions and a penalty.
The second half saw Sale wrestle back momentum to score four of the period’s first five tries, with Daisy Hibbert-Jones striking for Lightning. Despite this swing of fortunes, the visitors were just one successful kick away from tying the game following Bulou Mataitoga’s late try, but the resulting conversion attempt proved to be unsuccessful.
FIRST HALF
Lightning struck first with a try that showcased their ability to attack from all quarters. It started with a scrum on the Sale ten metre line, from which Bo Westcombe-Evans and Mataitoga made big metres on the edge.
Haineala Lutui punched a hefty hole through the middle, and before the defence could get reset, Carmela Morrall drifted beautifully through a gap and fixed her opponent to free Kelter to finish from 20 metres out in the third minute, with Helen Nelson adding the conversion.
Sale enjoyed two entries into the attacking 22, but both attacks ended in the hands of Katana Howard, as first she just failed to pull in a high pass, and then was penalised for encroachment when joining a Sale play off the back of a lineout.
Such profligacy was almost immediately punished when Kelter rampaged down the right wing and, from a penalty kicked to touch, Kathryn Treder seemed destined to apply the finishing touch from a rolling maul, only for a Sharks player to somehow hold the ball up at the final moment.
However, from their very next attack, Lightning left with points. Mataitoga ran forcibly down the right channel, only to be stopped by an illegally high tackle from Lizzie Duffy. With a penalty advantage, Christine Belisle marked her first start of the season with a display of deft handling to send Ives Campion galloping over for the try, which Nelson again converted.
Duffy received no further sanction off the back of the try being scored, and soon afterwards played a key role in getting her side back in the game as she whipped the ball wide for Rhona Lloyd to finish in the right corner for an unconverted score.
An exciting first half continued to ebb and flow as Rowland’s cross-field kick was snuffed out by a Sale knock-on, then Morrall and Kelter just failed to connect from ten metres out. The period didn’t go without scoreboard reward, though, as a central penalty was slotted between the uprights by Nelson to give her side a 12-point lead at the break.
SECOND HALF
Sale flew out of the blocks, and ten minutes after the restart were level with two of their World Cup-winning Red Roses leading the charge. Erica Jarrell-Searcy profited from a Morwenna Talling offload to finish under the posts, then Amy Cokayne completed a neat lineout move close to the left corner flag.
Lightning head coach Nathan Smith made four substitutions at that stage and they had their desired impact as Alicia Maude, Tahlia Broady, Mae Sagapolu and Anne Young were amongst the carriers to gain entry to the 22, then it was a slick exchange between Nelson and the returning Helena Rowland that sent captain Hibbert-Jones over against her former club, with Nelson extending her perfect record from the tee.
Just after the hour mark, the scoreboard was tied up at 24-24 when Katie Childs worked her way through from a rolling maul, and Duffy struck over a tricky conversion.
The final quarter proved to be a nerve-jangling affair as Sharks piled on the pressure and got their reward when Gwen Pyers drove into traffic to ground over the line.
There was still life in Lightning, and they gave themselves a shot to pull level with three minutes remaining when Morrall’s brilliant cross-field kick was caught and finished by Mataitoga, but Nelson’s tricky conversion faded unsuccessfully from the target as Sale hung on to close out the game.
Lightning have a six-day turnaround ahead of their Friday Night Lights fixture (13 March, kick-off: 7.30pm) against Harlequins at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens – tickets are available by clicking HERE.
LINE-UPS
SHARKS: 15 Lizzie Duffy, 14 Rhona Lloyd, 13 Evie Wills, 12 Katana Howard, 11 Shona Campbell, 10 Holly Aitchison, 9 Olivia Ortiz; 1 Tysh Harper, 2 Amy Cokayne, 3 Nick James, 4 Morwenna Talling, 5 Erica Jarrell‑Searcy, 6 Eva Donaldson, 7 Georgie Perris‑Redding ©, 8 Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: 16 Milly Hyndman, 17 Gwen Pyrs, 18 Evie Roach, 19 Charlotte Fray, 20 Sharifa Kasolo, 21 Amy Relf, 22 Asia Hogan‑Rochester, 23 Katie Childs.
LIGHTNING: 15 Helen Nelson, 14 Bulou Mataitoga, 13 Alev Kelter, 12 Carmela Morrall, 11 Bo Westcombe‑Evans, 10 Helena Rowland, 9 Meg Davey, 1 Isla Curphey, 2 Kathryn Treder, 3 Christine Belisle, 4 Lilli Ives‑Campion, 5 Rachel Ehrecke, 6 Becky Boyd, 7 Daisy Hibbert‑Jones (c), 8 Haineala Lutui.
Replacements: 16 Paige Stathopoulos, 17 Anne Young, 18 Mae Sagapolu, 19 Tahlia Brody, 20 Kendall Waudby, 21 Lis Maude, 22 Fancy Bermudez, 23 Lucia Scott.