Prolific try-scoring hooker Kathryn Treder has put pen to paper on an extended contract at Loughborough Lightning.
Since arriving from Darlington Mowden Park in 2023, the 29-year-old has crossed the line a remarkable 19 times in 27 games. Her haul of nine tries in the 2024/25 Premiership Women’s Rugby was bettered by only seven other players.
Many of her scores came from expertly-guided rolling mauls that originated from her own laser-accurate lineout throwing. Only former Lightning player Lark Atkin-Davies, now at Bristol Bears, possessed statistics better than Treder’s return of 113 lineouts won from 138 of her own throws.
Alongside her prowess domestically, Treder remains a mainstay in the USA national team having made her debut in 2019. During the recent Pacific Four Series, Treder moved to 29 caps and is on course to appear in a second Rugby World Cup after featuring in New Zealand in 2022 (delayed from 2021).
“The support I get at the club to improve my game is a massive reason as to why I am staying at Lightning,” said the Alaska-born forward. “I get to play alongside and train with world-class players. Not only are they great players on the field and a lot of fun to play with, but also are great people off the pitch. The team has high potential and I really want to be a part of this team and see it break into the top four.
“Last season we showed a lot of growth, and we were really peaking towards the end winning five of our last seven games. Beating Saracens for the first time was one of my career highlights and beating Bristol reflected a lot of our potential and promise in the upcoming season. Hopefully we will be knocking on the door of the top four this season and I am excited to be a part of it.
“I believe we have the potential and personnel to come home with a medal in 2025/26, we ended last season with some really big highs and I want to ride that into the upcoming season and shake things up in the PWR.”
Kathryn Treder
Treder’s re-signing follows the news announced earlier this week that Bulou Mataitoga has extended her stay with Loughborough, and fellow American Tahlia Brody has joined from local rivals Leicester Tigers.
“Kathryn was the first player that I personally signed for Lightning so I am delighted that she is staying with us,” said head coach Nathan Smith.
“Her point of difference with her lineout throwing, which is an extremely hard skill to nail. Statistically we scored 68% of our tries either from a lineout strike or a lineout maul. Essentially, it is imperative we win our lineout balls to win games and that’s what she brings to the team.
“We have also seen big improvements in the physical side of Kathryn’s game over the time she has spent with us.
“In her first season, she played a lot of full games whereas this year, due to the competition provided by Elis Martin and Lucy Calladine, I have been in the fortunate position to be able to rotate the hookers and that has allowed Kathryn’s game to improve.”
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