Saints and Loughborough join forces to create new elite team
Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning have become the latest side to pool their resources to create a new elite women’s team, following in the footsteps of Leicester Tigers and Lichfield RUFC.
The new partnership will see both sides combine to become a joint Loughborough Lightning and Northampton Saints elite women’s team which will compete in the Premier 15s.
Loughborough Lightning have reached the semi-finals of the last two Allianz Premier 15s seasons and area mainstay of semi-pro women’s rugby. Crucially the team will remain named as Loughborough Lightning, but the side’s kit will now bear the Northampton Saints crest and Franklin’s Gardens will host several Lightning fixtures each season.
“We have always said it was a question of when, and not if, Northampton Saints were to participate at the top table of the elite women’s game,” said Mark Darbon, Saints’ Chief Executive.
“This partnership provides the perfect opportunity for us to do so, and we hope that alongside hosting a Red Roses fixture here at the Gardens later this year, this partnership will significantly help to grow the audience for women’s and girls’ rugby in the East Midlands and beyond.
“Loughborough have enjoyed ongoing success in the Premier 15s competition, and our ambition as we become a joint Lightning / Saints side is to ensure that continues – we aim to help the team to retain its current elite players, and to attract other talented rugby players to Loughborough, while in the long-term ensuring that we build an elite player pathway system which will generate a high proportion of home-grown players.
“This partnership builds on the incredible success of the grassroots girls rugby programmes that Saints’ Community Team have scaled up in recent years.
“With thousands more women and girls having access to the sport we all love at grassroots level, we believe now is the perfect time for Northampton to enter the elite game – and we’re incredibly excited to get started with Loughborough.”
Northampton have worked hard to develop girls’ rugby within the Club’s region in recent seasons, with over 1,600 players participating in the Saints 7s Series since the first girls-only U15s festivals began in 2012.
The club’s girls-only summer residential rugby camps at Stowe School have increased participants by over 200 per cent over the last three years, while every season thousands of girls benefit from the coaching in schools and matchday festivals delivered by Saints’ Community Team.
The partnership “aims to continue this progress through effective community-focused programmes across the East Midlands and beyond”.
Director of Sport at Loughborough University, John Steele, said: “We’re thrilled to have agreed this partnership with Northampton Saints, with a pioneering arrangement that is unique in professional women’s rugby,” said Steele.
“Lightning and Saints both have a significant presence at the top of English rugby, and as we now work side-by-side, I’ve no doubt the new relationship will strengthen both teams as we look to win trophies and grow the game of rugby.”
As part of the partnership, Saints will also provide additional resources to support the development of the female game, starting with the appointment of Sarah Hunter and Emily Scarratt as the club’s Women’s Rugby Ambassadors.
“The collaboration between Loughborough Lightning and Northampton Saints is a massive step forward for the development of the women’s game,” said Hunter.
“Both organisations have a long, proud history in sport, and I’m honoured to have been asked to support this initiative in an ambassador role.
“We are seeing a new era of women’s rugby and being at the forefront of that change is truly exciting. By working together, we can help grow the women’s game, whether that be at a grassroots level or for those that are already on the pathway to becoming future Red Roses.”
Hunter and Scarratt will begin working with Saints immediately.
“There is a huge opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing between ourselves and Northampton, notably around the creation of a thriving pathway system given Saints’ outstanding track record with their men’s Academy,” said Rhys Edwards, Loughborough’s Director of Rugby. “We have built a successful team with multiple international players and two former world players of the year in Hunter and Scarratt. This is the next exciting stage of our evolution as we move forwards to create a long-standing legacy in the women’s game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments