How 'flipped mindset' turned Morrall into Loughborough regular

Loughborough Lightning’s Carmela Morrall has packed in plenty of rugby to her life already.

Last weekend the 21-year-old centre made her 50th appearance for the East Midlands club in her team’s 33-15 loss to Premiership Women’s Rugby rivals Saracens.

While the result may not have been what she wanted it was a significant occasion nonetheless. Only 18 when she made her debut as a replacement against Harlequins in 2022, the England U20 centre has been a constant for Nathan Smith’s African Violets this term.

She led the team out at StoneX Stadium in front of her mother, Penny, and sister, Cristiana, while her father, Graham, and brother, Connor, watched at home in Dubai.

Part of what makes Morrall’s milestone all the more impressive is that she has split her time with Loughborough University in Women’s BUCS Super Rugby.

Coming through the university’s development pathway she has been to the Women’s BUCS Super Rugby final twice and was named the competition’s Player of the Season in May.

Those midweek ventures have been integral to the 21-year-old’s continued development, especially when you consider she had been battling with Emily Scarratt, Alev Kelter and Helen Nelson for a starting slot at the weekends.

“It has been very up and down for me,” Morrall told Loughborough Lightning. “I came in so young, and I think you don’t expect to be involved that early, that kind of threw a spanner in the works. But I wouldn’t have changed it for anything.

“Being at Loughborough, the close link with the BUCS programme is such a good opportunity.

“If you look back to last season, I wasn’t getting the game time for Lightning that I potentially wanted, so I had that outlet to play some really high-level rugby with BUCS, while still being involved with Lightning at the same time. That was a good development opportunity for me.”

After she made 18 appearances in the 2023/24 campaign for Loughborough, Morrall admits she found the struggle for game time in 2024/25 “frustrating”.

Scarratt’s return from a long injury lay-off and the arrival of Olympic bronze medal winner Kelter meant that starting shirts were scarce at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

“To be able to learn off the likes of Nelly (Helen Nelson), Scaz and Alev in that season and just keep watching, keep learning off them, was an awesome experience for me,” Morrall reflected.

“To begin with, it was quite frustrating, because as a player, you always want to be involved, you always want to be on the pitch. But I had some good chats with Nathan midway through the season because he could tell that I was beginning to get frustrated.

“The chats I had with him flipped my mindset. I’ve got two of the best centres in the world that I am training with. So, it was the best opportunity to learn from the best.

“I just kept my head down and kept working hard, then my opportunity started coming towards the back end of the season, which I was really grateful for.”

This year Morrall has already seen herself utilised plenty by her head coach, Smith, when she was installed as a vice-captain for PWR: The Cup in August. A moniker that was upgraded when club captain Daisy Hibbert-Jones withdrew with illness on game day.

Her performances in the Cup competition have translated to the league season.

After glimpses of what the 21-year-old was capable last season, which included her starting role in Loughborough’s 31-22 win on the road to Bristol Bears, she has started all five league games to date.

Having forged a strong partnership with Kelter in the midfield, Morrall has carried the ball on 66 occasions in concentrated displays of hard-hitting attack and allowed her teammates to excel around her.

Now with the voice of her former midfield partner, Scarratt, guiding her as a coach, the England U20 international is hoping to take the team back to the top four for the first time since 2021.

“Playing week-in, week-out, I love it, I am not complaining about that at all,” she said. “I love playing rugby. In terms of the season itself, since the start of me being at Lightning, this is the best start of the season we’ve had as a team.

“I think it is down to as a collective, we are such a tight-knit group, and we have the belief in each other and ourselves that we can go and be a top four team and put performance out each week.

“This season is the first season that we’ve really seen it flourish and come to life. It is really exciting for the rest of the season to come, but also, as a team, we are really proud of what we have done so far.”