Match Report: Leicester Tigers Women 12 – 69 Loughborough Lightning

Ellen Scantlebury claimed a hat-trick as Loughborough Lightning ran home 11 tries in a comprehensive 12-69 victory against Leicester Tigers in the PWR: The Cup.

Cieron Bell, Lucy Calladine, Daisy Hibbert-Jones, Carmela Morrall and Scantlebury all crossed the line with Lia Green adding three conversions to open a 26-point lead at the break.

Tigers landed a try in each half but couldn’t keep Loughborough at bay as Scantlebury added two more in the second period, Calladine doubled her tally for the afternoon and Keevy Fitzpatrick, Isla Curphey and Green all added tries – with the latter adding four more successful kicks to add further gloss to the scoreline.

FIRST HALF

Lightning’s first East Midlands Derby of the season was played in the West Midlands, as Lichfield RUFC hosted the second round clash – with former Lichfield and Lightning star, now Red Roses coach Sarah Hunter, amongst the interested spectators at Cooke Fields.

Up against a Tigers team that had seen 12 players make debuts the previous week, Lightning launched out of the blocks and struck early when Scottish winger Bell added to her maiden try for the club in the Round 1 loss to Sale Sharks with a fine finish from distance. 

Captain Hibbert-Jones was restored to the starting line-up after being withdrawn last weekend due to illness. Having spent the midweek period training with the Red Roses ahead of their World Cup encounter with Samoa, she grabbed her first points of the season, driving over from close range after Fitzpatrick had made an eye-catching line break.

The bonus point was secured within 15 minutes when hooker Calladine rumbled over from a rolling maul, then Green used penalty advantage to put through a perfectly-weighted grubber kick into the in-goal area for Morrall to race on and ground. 

Scantlebury got in on the scoring action in the 22nd minute when another slick attack found the edge and the in-form winger needed no second invitation to speed in from halfway. 

To their immense credit, Tigers enjoyed their best spell of the game in the period that followed before the break with Georgie Lingham gaining scoreboard reward with a try approaching the half-hour mark.

SECOND HALF

Just a few minutes had elapsed when Lightning reaffirmed their dominance when a penalty was punted to touch and Calladine guided another rolling maul over the whitewash.

Fitzpatrick was a thorn in Tigers’ side all afternoon and was next to draw the assistant referees under the posts when she stepped in field to collect an offload and finish, presenting Green with a tap in from the tee. 

Tigers refused to lie down and struck back with one of the tries of the day as former Lightning winger Grace Deane found some space down the left wing and fended a tackler well to pin her ears back and finish, with Ableigh Priestnall taking the hosts to a dozen points.

Just as she was against Sale Sharks a week previously, Ellie Tromans was a constant threat in attack and it was her speedy break and pass that teed up Scantlebury to scorch her way down the wing and bring up the 50-point mark with a quarter of the game remaining.

With 18-year-old Ella Barnes on pitch making her debut at fly-half, Lightning added three more tries before the final whistle. The first was particularly memorable as prop Curphey received a tip-on and backed herself to finish from near the half-way line.

More forward dominance pushed Tigers on the back foot allowing Green to work her way over on a strong diagonal line, with her subsequent conversion taking her match tally to 19 points – building on the 13 she bagged in Round 1.

The final points of the match went to Scantlebury as she once more showcased her lethal finishing ability from distance to complete the first hat-trick of her Lightning career.

Loughborough’s comprehensive win puts their PWR: The Cup campaign back on track ahead of the visit of Saracens to Loughborough University on Saturday 6 September (kick-off: 2pm) – match tickets are available to purchase by clicking HERE.

Loughborough Lightning 2025/26 Season Tickets (which included the home cup match versus Saracens) are still available HERE, priced* from just £65 (adult) and £30 juniors.

LINE-UPS:

TIGERS: 15 Labeyrie, 14 Anstead, 13 Lingham, 12 Priestnall, 11 Deane, 10 Turner, 9 Maxwell; 1 Solly, 2 Bainbridge, 3 Vincent, 4 Sinclair, 5 Gordon, 6 Russell, 7 Reeves, 8 Farmer
Replacements: 16 Watkins, 17 Poole, 18 Fereday, 19 Taylor, 20 Turner, 21 Pickwick, 22 Nicholas, 23 Kacirkova.

LIGHTNING: 15 MacColl, 14 Bell, 13 Tromans, 12 Morrall, 11 Scantlebury, 10 Green, 9 Davey; 1 Williams, 2 Calladine, 3 Belisle, 4 Baynes, 5 Fitzpatrick, 6 Hibbert-Jones ©, 7 Roberts, 8 Lutui.
Replacements: 16 Peterson, 17 Curphey, 18 Clifford, 19 Finch, 20 Waudby, 21 Adcock, 22 Luthayi, 23 Barnes.

*Season Ticket prices are subject to a booking fee of £2.50 per Season Ticket, plus £10 admin fee for Direct Debit.