SCARRATT AND HELEN NELSON

Loughborough Lighting Vs Harlequins Match Report

FULL TIME: LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING 44-5 HARLEQUINS

HOME TEAM (LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING)

TRIES: Lingham 5, Tasker 36, 75, Burton 49, Field 59, WestcombeEvans 64, 68, 80

CONVERSIONS: Green 76, 80

AWAY TEAM (HARLEQUINS)

TRIES: Torley 13

CONVERSIONS:

Loughborough Lightning stormed to a 44-5 victory against Harlequins on Saturday to secure their spot in the Allianz Cup 5/6th place final.

The young home side put eight tries past the London visitors, with Bo Westcombe-Evans grabbing yet another hattrick, Georgina Tasker running over twice and Abi Burton scoring on her return to 15s. Georgie Lingham started the scoring for Lightning however, running it into the corner after six minutes.

Harlequins responded immediately, showing their threatening pace through Katie Shillaker, who handed off to Lauren Torley to find their only points of the game.

Both sides faced off in a physical battle, but

LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING: Tasker, Westcombe-Evans, Hardy, Morrall, Lingham, Green, Davey, Trevarthen, Field, Clifford, Ives Campion, Dale, Williams, Svoboda, Burton

REPLACEMENTS: Meuller, Baverstock, Panayiotou, Andrews, Waudby, Baker, Scantlebury, Swartz

HARLEQUINS: Boatman, Torley, Comerford, Mayhew, Shillaker, Scott, Aucken, Cooper, Caitlin, Latsha, Kronish, Thorpe, Wythe, Burnfield, Corson

REPLACEMENTS: Harris, Spurrier, Duffy, Brodie, Evans, Clavering, Roberts, Hoad it was Lightning who edged ahead before the break, with Tasker running it in after Quins fullback Ellie Boatman was shown a yellow card.

The home side continued their momentum after the break and were rewarded when Burton stepped around the Quins defence to power over after 50 minutes. Bryony Field found the tryline a few minutes later, bunding over after popping out from the back of a maul to extend the home side’s lead.

With 12 minutes left on the clock, slick interplay between the backs allowed Westcombe-Evans to break through and run in her first try of the game. Tasker then grabbed her second, before Westcombe-Evans rounded the game off with two scores at the death.

By Bethan Clargo