Report: Tigers Improve But End Cup Campaign with Loughborough Loss

Leicester Tigers rounded out their Jaecoo Next Gen Cup campaign with a 24-10 defeat to local rivals Loughborough Lightning.

Having both already been eliminated after losing their opening three matches, both sides were playing to avoid finishing bottom of Pool A and to claim local derby bragging rights.

Knowing they were already out, Leicester opted to rotate their lineup and take the opportunity to look at new players. Australian Haley Derrera made her first appearance after signing for the club, while University of Nottingham Women’s Rugby Club alumnus Charlotte Seale made her first Tigers start in the second row.

Leicester were looking for their first victory in the competition since beating Loughborough at Loughborough University Stadium two years ago, but it was the home side who controlled the opening exchanges and pinned the Tigers deep in their own half.

It took eleven minutes for Lightning to open the scoring. After a scrum, Loughborough worked the ball and the Leicester defence to the right-hand side before sending it back the other way. Eventually, the ball ended up in the hands of Tamsin Baynes, who drew a challenge from the final defender and sent the ball wide to Ellie Tromans to dot down the opening score of the game.

The conditions played a factor on a windy day at Loughborough University, and the conversion was missed to let the Tigers off slightly.

That reprieve rallied the visitors, and they were much improved for the rest of the opening period.

Leicester controlled both possession and territory for the remainder of the first half. On multiple occasions they got the ball to the Loughborough tryline, only to be halted by a combination of ill-disciplined penalties and excellent defending just before they could put down for an equaliser.

When they did have to defend, they did so valiantly, with a fast break from Amy Layzell denied by a desperate last gasp tackle, before Lightning were held at the Leicester tryline midway through the first half after a long stand.

However, Tigers were unable to find an equalising score to end the half, meaning they went into the break 5-0 down.

Those missed opportunities proved costly, as Loughborough came out after the interval and scored two tries within the first ten minutes of the second half to take a 17-0 lead and bring the game beyond Leicester.

The first came within a minute of the restart. Carmela Morrall made significant ground with a powerful carry before being tackled just shy of the tryline, and the resulting close-range phases enabled Grace Clifford to gather the ball and power her way over the line. Soon after, Baynes arrived on the scene to put the ball down following a sequence of attacking phases at the try line and extend the lead.

Despite being three tries down, once again Leicester found their feet as the half wore on. A dummy pass from captain Tess Feury confused the Loughborough defence and opened space to drive her team forwards. That run created an overload for the Tigers to exploit, making the opening for Hermione Farmer to eventually score in the corner.

Any hopes of a Leicester fightback were put to bed fairly quickly, as replacement winger Aoibhe Kelly was able to dot the ball down under the posts and claim her sides’ fourth try and the bonus point after yet another quick passing move opened up a gap in the Leicester defence.

But the Tigers refused to bow out. Yet another long passing sequence, similar to the first score, saw them eventually move the ball out wide from the centre of the field, with Jemima McCalman ultimately the player to reduce the deficit to a 24-10 defeat.

Despite remaining bottom of Pool A, the performance offered signs of progress. Having gone more than a year without a competitive victory and lost their first three cup matches by a combined 174-23, Leicester will hope this display provides a platform for the Premiership season.

They will look to build on this performance when they travel to defending champions Saracens on the opening day of the league season at the end of November.

Featured Image courtesy of Megan Paul-Thomas. No changes were made to this image