Haineala Lutui is a prodigious talent making her name in rugby as a teenager, which is rather ironic considering her old man was still going strong well into his 40s.

The Loughborough Lightning No.8 has enjoyed a stellar start to her Premiership Women’s Rugby career, breaking records on debut and not looking back since.

Such has been the impact of the 19-year-old that she was called into the first Red Roses camp of 2026, training alongside the World Cup-winning squad, a fitting reward for her early season form.

In doing so, she has already ticked off one of her ambitions for the season, and it continues the rapid ascent that began with the support of her father Aleki, the long-time Worcester Warriors front-rower who was still turning out for Ampthill in the Champ as recently as last season at the age of 46.

Haineala explained how their relationship has been crucial to her own rugby career. She said: “He’s definitely been a massive influence on me. Growing up, he was always the one who would help me to push myself to go training, he would take me to the gym at 6am, after school he would ask if I wanted to do a rugby session.

“He was always there to help me and support me. Watching my games, he would come back and analyse my games. As well as that, he’s always been my best friend, as well as a father.

“That’s really nice to have someone to talk to about rugby, or even if it’s not about rugby.”

The elder Lutui represented Tonga at the Rugby World Cup, while Haineala is also eligible to play international rugby for Samoa, through her mother, New Zealand, where she was born, and now England where she has grown up.

The ambition of playing for the latter looks set to become a reality based on her current trajectory.

Lutui kicked off this season with a statement performance for Lightning against Harlequins, making a league-leading 22 carries in a 52-42 defeat.

Through eight rounds, she is still the top carrier in the competition and is a big reason why Lightning are right in the mix for the top four, currently sitting one point and one place outside. It is some going for her first season of top-flight rugby.

She said: “It’s been good, it’s definitely been a step up from last season when I was playing BUCS. It’s been a really good experience, stepping out of my comfort zone and pushing myself to do better in training.

“Starting for Lightning has been really good. It’s been really exciting, everyone is stepping up, in training everyone is working hard for each other. Nathan (Smith, head coach) and Tayls (Rachel Taylor, assistant coach) have put in a lot of effort in our team and that shows in how we play.

“The step up from BUCS to playing Prem has been really good. What has been useful is having the coaches around me to support me.

“Stepping up into Lightning, when all the internationals came back, I was able to learn off them. They supported me which helped me to play how I have been. They helped me to keep my confidence.”

Chief among those internationals is Sadia Kabeya, one of the stars of the Red Roses' World Cup campaign.

Packing down alongside Kabeya in the back row of that opening PWR fixture was surreal for Lutui, but she is now starting to find her voice.

She explained: “The Harlequins game was the first time I had ever played with Sadia and the other internationals, it was unreal. When you see it on paper, you don’t think it’s real, and then you play, ‘Wow!’.

“I’m quite shy at first, but as soon as I am comfortable, I won’t shut up! Out of the whole Lightning group, everyone is quite comfortable, it’s like family.”

Her form in her debut season might suggest it has all been plain sailing for Lutui early in her Lightning career, but she admits that there have been a few learning curves.

In training she is working hard on her footwork after realising that simply running straight at this level does not always work, with Harlequins Nicole Wythe showing her exactly why running at space is preferable.

She joked: “It’s very different, like walking into a brick wall.”

And likewise, there was an eye-opening experience after she was shifted forward into the second row during cup action.

Lutui added: “I think it was in the cup games, I played second row for the first time. I didn’t know anything about cauliflower ears. I went to sleep and woke up thinking my ear really hurt and didn’t think anything of it, then I looked in the mirror and my ear was fat! It didn’t go away for a whole month!”

Thankfully for Lutui, she has moved back to her preferred No.8 spot, and given her success in the role, will hope that she is making it her own at Loughborough.

If her current form holds, she might get a chance to do the same in white sooner rather than later.