Firwood Waterloo make the relatively short trip to Loughborough to face Lightning this weekend, still searching for a first win of the season.
Despite the return of Scottish scrum half, Mhairi Grieve from International duty, Waterloo boss Neil Ryan has kept faith with Sioned Williams who has impressed since joining in the summer from Caernarfon. Lauren Delaney returns in her familiar role as full-back with Nessa Temple reverting to the wing.
Debutant Katie Houghton is another summer signing, this time from Championship side Eccles. She is now fully recovered from her pre-season injury and will partner Carrie Tooley in the second row.
Despite posting losses in their first three fixtures of the campaign, Director of Rugby, Neil Ryan is still upbeat. Looking back on the Bristol match he said “Overall I’m really pleased with the attitude and energy. We started the game really positively but we got disrupted with the loss of Beth Saffery in the second row with a head injury. The set piece was a real positive and if we can build on this we will be a force.
There are lots of positives to take into the Loughborough game – as a squad we stand up and don’t take a back step. We haven’t got the results yet, but I can guarantee the other teams have known they were in a game.”
1st XV Squad
15 Lauren Delaney
14 Nessa Temple
13 Alicia Calton
12 Elz Isaac
11 Carys Hall
10 Bethan Davies
9 Sioned Williams
8 Storm Cobain
7 Jess Elbeck
6 Claire Hutchison
5 Katie Houghton
4 Carrie Tooley
3 Rachael Thomas
2 Molly Kelly
1 Sophie Jones
Finishers
16 Scarlett Fielding
17 Brea Leung
18 Gemma Hurst
19 Niamh Hughes
20 Becki Jones
21 Mhairi Grieve
22 Ellie Jardine
