'It keeps us in the fight': bonus point keeps Lightning's play-off dreams alive

Loughborough Lightning could see the bright side at the end of their 45-26 loss to Gloucester Hartpury on Sunday afternoon.

Christine Belisle’s 80th minute try secured a bonus point for the East Midlanders against the three-time Premiership Women’s Rugby champions at Kingsholm Stadium.

In the week leading up to the contest, club captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones had discussed the need for her side to pick up bonus points. Getting one against Dan Murphy’s high-flying Circus was always going to be a stern challenge.

Even as Gloucester Hartpury won big in their first game after the winter break, Lighting were never out of the contest. Their forward pack stood toe-to-toe with their hosts for much of the second half, while the efforts of driving forces Alev Kelter and Helen Nelson cannot be overlooked.

Currently sixth in the league, level on points with Trailfinders Women, there is plenty of desire in the Loughborough squad to end their five year wait for knockout rugby in the league.

At full-time Lightning head coach, Nathan Smith, was pleased with his team’s ability to stick in the fight.

“We didn’t give up; it goes without saying we were not great in the first half,” Smith told Loughborough Lightning. “The second half, we were back more to how we play, we imposed our game on Gloucester.

“Fundamentally, there were too many errors in the game. What I would say is, we are a team that fights until the last minute. You saw that against Exeter and Trailfinders, and you have seen that again against Gloucester to pick up a point.

“You have to be picking up points away from home if you are going to finish in the top four. It just keeps us in the fight.”

Results elsewhere mean that Lightning are now five points away from the play-off spots. Exeter Chiefs’ 36-0 win over Leicester Tigers in the South West did plenty to open up the gap at the top.

The Devon club will be Loughborough’s next opponents in a fortnight. Still with seven rounds of action to go until the table takes its final form, Smith’s will not have his eyes drawn elsewhere in his team’s hunt for knockout rugby.

“I am not going to get bogged down with what everyone else is doing result wise,” Smith said.

“We all play the same amount of games, we all play the same teams. We have just got to out score, per that game, if they have got five points at home against Tigers, we have to get five points against Tigers at home.

“Exeter have to come to Gloucester Hartpury and get a point or two points to better us. It is not necessarily about any given weekend’s results.”