Helen Nelson gave a tip of the hat to captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones for her calming words before the fly-half struck over her conversion to tie the game with Trailfinders Women.
The Scotland international – who was the Built Differently Player of the Match against Bristol Bears last time out – had another telling impact in Round 8 at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens with the kick that secured an extra point for her side in the 29-29 draw.
When she was calming herself down following Fancy Bermudez’s stoppage-time try, her skipper delivered some confidence boosting words.
“She said ‘I believe in you’ which was a nice thing to say to settle you down and stick to the process,” said Nelson, who moved to 150 career points in African Violet shirt.
“It was a stressful one. It was funny, everyone was cheering on Fancy when she was scoring and I was literally joint pointed towards the posts, get as close as you can please. She did a good job to get as close as she did.”
Lightning kept the ball for two minutes with the clock in the red before Bermudez struck having fallen behind to a 78th minute converted try from Rosie Inman.
Picking up extra points in testing circumstances is a trait that has helped Lightning stay within touching distance of the Premiership Women’s Rugby top four heading into 2026.
“We just knew that our attack was working well, so we had to keep doing the basics well,” said Nelson. “We went for that kick to compete with Alev [Kelter] to get the ball back and then Meg [Davey] and Fancy delivered a bit of magic!
“That is the difference between making the top four and not is picking up those points when the odds are against you. The way we fight at times, we could have given them easy tries but we fight and work back for each other and that is the making of a top-four team; working hard for each other.”