Loughborough Lightning head coach Nathan Smith has named his 23-woman squad for Saturday’s Allianz Cup clash at Gloucester-Hartpury (kick-off: 5pm).
Sally Williams captains the side from openside flanker with Georgina Tasker operating as vice-captain from outside centre.
Grace Clifford, Lilli Ives Campion and Daisy Hibbert-Jones have returned from international duty with the Red Roses to feature at tighthead prop, second row and number eight respectively.
Issy Winter and Ellie Roberts are in line to make their Lightning debuts after being named among the replacements.
The ALPAS Arena match against last season’s Premier 15s champions Gloucester-Hartpury will give Smith the chance to test his squad, which is currently operating without several internationals who are away with their countries.
“It’s a really exciting period because we get to work with a younger group of athletes and develop them,” said Smith, who takes charge of his first competitive Lightning match. “The main thing we’re going to get out of that, is that when the internationals come back, these players have had more game exposure.
“It’s going to drive competition from beneath and when the internationals come back, they need to be firing on all cylinders to be able to start in the team.
“I want them to work really hard and be prepared, if we do that we should be in a really good place.”
GLOUCESTER-HARTPURY vs LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING
Allianz Cup, Round 1
Saturday 23 September, 2023
ALPAS Arena
Kick-off: 5:00pm
15 Lucia Linn
14 Ellen Scantlebury
13 Georgina Tasker (vc)
12 Carmela Morrall
11 Bo Westcombe-Evans
10 Lia Green
9 Jess Weaver
1 Kath Baverstock
2 Kendall Waudby
3 Grace Clifford
4 Becky Boyd
5 Lilli Ives Campion
6 Maja Meuller
7 Sally Williams (c)
8 Daisy Hibbert-Jones
Replacements:
16 Phoebe Andrews
17 Katie Trevarthen
18 Isla Curphey
19 Issy Winter
20 Ellie Roberts
21 Megan Davey
22 Alex Baker
23 Emma Hardy
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