Meg Davey: How a 'kick up the backside' inspired Loughborough Lightning history-maker

Four years ago, Meg Davey faced a choice.

She could lean into Loughborough Lightning even harder or embrace the lifestyle of an undergraduate, all takeaway pizzas and Wednesday socials.

“I remember my old coach giving me a kick up the backside,” said the scrum-half.

“He told me I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing but I was 19, I wanted to have fun and enjoy my time at university.

“We were technically semi-professional, we just weren’t getting paid as well back then. It was really hard.”

Davey was driven back towards an athlete lifestyle by the rapid growth of Premiership Women’s Rugby and her long-standing dream to play for England.

Now, she stands alone as Lightning’s highest-ever appearance maker with more than a century of games for the East Midlands club.

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“There are no easy games anymore,” said Davey.

“You go into every single game day with five or six names on the opposition team sheet that you’re terrified of.

“You hate that but you love it, and it has driven standards within myself.

“The more the league develops, the more I realise how grateful I am for the opportunity in front of me.

“Those temptations I had have gone and I know what I need to do. For me, it’s about getting out after my training sessions and doing extras, for example working on my passing, to put myself in the best possible position for the game.”

As well as raising her own level to match that of the league, Davey is still propelled forward in her career by the dream of becoming a Red Rose one day.

“That has always been the end goal for me from a young age,” she said.

“Even if I don’t get it, I’m always going to keep trying and that is the constant motivating force.

“That’s the big goal, but I try to give myself goals underneath that, whether it’s reaching my 100th appearance or striving to make the top four as a team. If I don’t play for England, I don’t want to feel like I’ve not achieved anything.”

Davey has seen dozens of team-mates come and go since making her Lightning debut seven years ago, aged just 17. In that time, she has done more than almost anyone to propagate a healthy club culture.

“The only way I can describe it is by talking about the bond we have with each other,” said Davey.

“No matter who it is that comes in or out, we always create a really good team connection that is based on the fact we really like each other.

“What we have is really special because we genuinely get along and the coaching staff try to foster that connection as much as they can. It’s a tight-knit community.”

The challenge for Davey and the squad is to bottle the performance that saw them beat Saracens 22-17 on January 5, starting against Exeter Chiefs this weekend.

“When we review ourselves, we’re never playing awfully, we’re proud of how we are performing,” said Davey. “We are just really being unlucky.

“For us it’s about finding that sweet spot between being as physical as we were against Saracens with playing the rugby that we want to play, which is running the ball a lot and keeping the ball on the pitch.”