Head coach Nathan Smith believes Loughborough Lighting took ‘half a step back’ on their journey following their home defeat to Bristol Bears.
After two Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby rounds on the road, Lightning played their first of eight league games at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday, but were outscored by eight tries to three to eventually lose 46-17.
It was a disappointing way for the side – who gave a debut to their new Black, Green and Gold alternative jerseys – to follow up their Derby victory over Leicester Tigers a week previously.
For Smith it was a setback in the project he started this summer when he arrived at a Club that finished third from bottom last season.
“At the end of the day it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about performance,” said Smith. “I felt we’ve just taken half a step backwards.
“Essentially, when you’re on a journey and you’re restarting something, the progression certainly isn’t linear and sometimes you have to take half a step back to go two steps forward, and that’s what we will hope to do next week.”
Nathan Smith, Loughborough Lightning Head Coach
Smith was forced into a some key changes from the side that was victorious at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, as Catherine O’Donnell failed to recover from a knock, two-try star Bo Westcombe-Evans suffered an unfortunate midweek injury and starting fly-half Helen Nelson was ruled out on the morning of the match.
“We lost Bo during the week, she decided to drop a 20kg plate on her foot in the gym, that was great news!” Smith explained. “Then Helen Nelson pulled up this morning with a sickness bug, and then obviously Cath just couldn’t recover from the Tigers game.
“It’s a little frustrating but that’s certainly not the reason we performed like we did.”
Bristol, with their England props Hannah Botterman and Sarah Bern at the fore, flew out of the blocks scoring two tries in the opening seven minutes with both wingers Meg Varley and Deborah Wills also getting on the scoresheet.
While Carmela Morrall responded for Loughborough, back swarmed the visitors with Varley bagging a second before half-time and Bern brought up the try-scoring bonus point to go in at the interval 15 points ahead.
“I’ve never ever once questioned the girls’ effort or application,” said Smith. “I just didn’t feel like we’ve had the same energy in that first ten minutes as we have had previously. With a good team like Bristol, you’ve got to be on the money from the word go and we weren’t.”
Keira Bevan managed Bristol’s fifth try in the second half before Kathryn Treder marked her home debut with a strong finish from close range and was one of the few positives that Smith highlighted after the game.
“I felt we had a reaction in the first 20 minutes after half-time. I thought it was probably the best our lineout has functioned over the last two or three weeks.
Nathan Smith, Loughborough Lightning head coach
“I thought Kathryn Treder threw really well. Apart from that, there’s not that many positives to take out of the game. There were some good performances from individual players and then some were off the boil.”
A chaotic final ten minutes delivered four more tries with Carys Williams-Morris adding Loughborough’s third but it was Bristol who pulled away with Alisha Butchers, Gabriella Nigrelli and Lark Atkin-Davies crossing the line as Lightning’s focus now turns to a trip to Sale Sharks on Saturday (16 December).
Smith said: “We’ve got to make sure that we’re mentally in the right place from the word go. If we dish up the first ten minutes we did today against Sale, it will be a similar picture. There’s no easy games in the PWR and I think the players need to realise that.”
