Trailfinders fired up for Friday Night Lights

Trailfinders Women head coach Barney Maddison believes Friday night’s London derby against Harlequins is the perfect game for his players to get back into the swing of things.

The Premiership Women’s Rugby season cracks back into gear after its winter break in front of what is set to be a good crowd at the Trailfinders Sports Club, with sixth-placed Trailfinders just three points behind their third-placed visitors.

Six weeks on from keeping themselves in play-off contention with a battling 29-29 draw at Loughborough Lightning, Trailfinders find themselves with several experienced internationals, including Meg Jones, Julia Schell, Tanya Kalounivale and Lisa Thomson on the sidelines due to injury.

“The fact that it’s a Friday night game is really cool," Maddison said. “I think we’ve sold a fair amount of tickets for the game, so everyone’s looking forward to it, and we’ve obviously not played a game for six weeks as well.

“The fact that we’ve not played in so long and it’s our first game back means form and all that stuff goes out the window, so it’s a bit of a reset for everyone in the New Year.

“I think this next block of games will see where we are – it’s so tight in the table, and it’ll kind of determine a fair bit where we are at the end of the season.”

This week has actually been the first where the whole Trailfinders squad has been back together, as internationals from the home nations went away for training camps following the winter break.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 🎆

1️⃣3️⃣ Uren at centre
🌿 Black Ferns in the engine room
⚡️ Electric pace out wide#TFWvHAR | #FollowTheTrail 💚 pic.twitter.com/Fevs1flEqW

— Trailfinders Women (@TrailfindersW) January 29, 2026

Captain Kate Zackary admits the breather in the campaign came at a good time, especially for players who competed at the World Cup during the late summer, which includes the USA skipper.

It gave the back rower the chance to recharge and catch up with friends and family – plus the opportunity to forget about rugby after a full-on few months.

Zackary said: “It was kind of weird to have a few weeks off – it had been a while!

“I didn’t do too much special besides relaxing – obviously, I went back to the States for about a week, and it was nice to see some really good friends.

“There’s life outside of rugby that we can’t forget about, and some of my best friends are having babies, my family has moved on, so it’s tough to be away, but it was nice to get back even for just 36 hours, as it was for one group of my family.

“That made me feel really refreshed, and it made me excited to get back.

“Looking ahead to Friday, it’s been six weeks, which is kind of crazy not having a rugby game, so I think you’ll see both teams ready to rip in when that whistle blows.”