Jenny Maxwell will play her first Loughborough Lightning match in more than two years this weekend in the Allianz Cup fifth-place play-off away at Sale Sharks.
The Scotland scrum-half last wore an African Violet shirt 25 months ago, before suffering a major knee injury on international duty.
Maxwell, aged 31, made her competitive playing return at the end of 2023 on loan for Edinburgh and returns to Lightning colours this weekend as vice-captain for Saturday’s Cup clash at Heywood Road (kick-off: 2pm).
Lightning’s first run out in five weeks will see them captained by Daisy Hibbert-Jones while Lilli Ives Campion and Cath O’Donnell – who have been involved in recent Red Roses camps – start together in the second row.
Starters Lucy Calledine, Evelyn Clarke and Freya Greensmith make their Lightning debuts while Steph Atkinson, Tiwaah Adjei-Ansere and Abba Austin are also in line for their first appearances from the bench.
It has been a busy period for the Lightning programme as the wider squad prepares for two games, starting with Saturday’s trip to Sale Sharks before Loughborough University head to the StoneX Stadium on Wednesday 17 April for the BUCS National Championships final against Hartpury (kick-off: 7pm).
“The main message we had when we all met up to train was that we are not a split camp,” said Lightning Head Coach Nathan Smith.
“We are one squad preparing two teams for two really big challenges and two games that we hope to get two positive performances in.”
Nathan Smith, Loughborough Lightning head coach
“Both teams are prepping each other is the way we want to look at it, as a University and as Lightning as a whole. Throughout the course of the year, the Lightning team trains consistently with the university side.
“These two games doesn’t really change anything. Each player within the University and Lightning are quite interchangeable between the two as we run fairly similar systems for the Lightning game model.”
Lightning are without six senior players participating in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations encounter between Scotland and England, while Maja Meuller is also away representing Sweden against Spain.
Smith’s side travel to face a Sale outfit they have beaten twice in Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby action this season, and will be hoping to put themselves in a strong position ahead of the second leg that is being staged at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 2.30pm) – tickets are available by clicking HERE.
“It will be a massively competitive game,” added Smith. “It is always is when you travel to Sale. They will be bang up for putting up a tough performance against us, which we are fully preparing for.
“It is really exciting. We have got a bank of players away on international duty and we have to provide support for them when needed. We have a group of international players who want to keep developing and performing who are going to play in the Cup, and I have got a group of players who are preparing for what is essentially the biggest game they have ever played in.
“It is pretty cool the amount of opportunities that we are providing for a wide range of players.”
SALE SHARKS vs LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING
Allianz Cup fifth-place play-off, first leg
Saturday 13 April, 2024
Heywood Road
Kick-off: 2pm
15 Lia Green
14 Freya Greensmith
13 Lucia Linn
12 Carmela Morrall
11 Evelyn Clarke
10 Megan Davey
9 Jenny Maxwell (vc)
1 Amelia Williams
2 Lucy Calledine
3 Catherine Wells
4 Lilli Ives Campion
5 Cath O’Donnell
6 Abby Duguid
7 Sara Svoboda
8 Daisy Hibbert-Jones (c)
Replacements:
16 Phoebe Andrews
17 Steph Atkinson
18 Tiwaah Adjei-Ansere
19 Hallie Taufoou
20 Abba Austin
21 Ellie Roberts
22 Sarah Smart
23 Kaz Kacirkova
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