Alex Stewart's Scotland debut: 'She is a special rugby player, she plays with a lot of heart'
Minutes after full-time at Cardiff Arms Park last Saturday, Alex Stewart’s mum Kirsty gave her daughter the biggest of hugs and dad Breck had lost his voice from cheering so much.
While the wider Scotland squad and supporters who were in the Welsh capital were celebrating a record-breaking seventh Test win on the spin and a first victory in that city for 20 years, the Stewart family were having their own little celebration.
Rightly so because Alex, the 19-year-old back-row, had just made her full international debut in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations and had certainly not looked out of place.
In fact, the Corstorphine Cougars and Edinburgh Rugby openside had excelled and had fully justified head coach Bryan Easson’s selection of her for such a big game.
“Alex was excellent, you just wouldn’t think she has only been around the squad for four weeks,” Easson said.
“Genuinely she played well above the levels that she has done before, but they are the levels that we know she can get to, she really was excellent and she has a big future.”
Stewart made 17 successful tackles during the match, topped the stats by arriving at 27 attacking breakdowns and made more ruck cleanouts than anyone else with 10.
Those figures left assistant coach Tyrone Holmes, a combative back-row himself back in the day who earned one Scotland men’s cap, a happy man.
“Alex was unreal versus Wales,” he stated.
“It is not often you get someone in their first cap and in such a big game like that stepping up. She is a special rugby player, she is coachable, she is great around the group and she plays with a lot of heart.
“She has a big future ahead of her.”
📹 Watch the highlights from today’s match between Wales and Scotland at Cardiff Arms Park here 🙌#GuinnessW6N #WALSCO pic.twitter.com/fsu1DKo8lh
— Guinness Women’s Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) March 23, 2024
Stewart certainly does have a big future, but right now she is still trying to process the last few weeks and what happened last Saturday.
“It’s still sinking in, I’ll be honest,” admitted the Edinburgh University law student, who came through the ranks at Liberton High School, Lismore and Edinburgh Harlequins and impressed recently as vice-captain of Edinburgh in the Celtic Challenge.
“There’s so much competition in the back row. Towards the end of the Celtic Challenge, I thought I’d be in with a good shout of being in the wider Scotland training squad, but I didn’t know I was going to start against Wales, I didn’t expect that, so that was a nice surprise.
“When I heard that I was starting early last week I was excited, but definitely the next day in training I was more nervous as I began to think about it all.
“We then had four days in Cardiff, so it was nice. We got a day off on the Thursday and we got to go and see a bit of the town and it helped me to settle down ahead of the match.
“I had to take a moment around the national anthems. I’m generally quite calm before a game, but there were definitely more nerves this time as to be expected.
“I really didn’t know what to expect when the game came, but it was definitely a step up.
“Playing in the Celtic Challenge and with the Scottish Futures previously has prepared me quite well for the level, but the speed was definitely faster.
“Playing against Irish and Welsh teams in the Celtic Challenge was really useful, but the physicality here had also been stepped up.
“During the first few phases I had to take a bit of time to get used to the speed and physicality, but I settled in pretty well.”
Stewart’s defining moment of a promising debut came in the 49th minute when she flew up on Wales and helped to generate a turnover from which No.8 Evie Gallagher then set up an attack which eventually saw winger Rhona Lloyd score the visiting team’s second try.
On the downside, with Scotland leading 20-13 and with Wales knocking on the door in the closing stages, Stewart was yellow-carded and then back-row Alex Callender’s try for Wales was given after a TMO check.
Lleucu George, the stand-off, could not convert though and Scotland held on for a famous 20-18 win.
“It was disappointing [to get yellow carded],” Stewart reflected about that blip.
“The penalty count was a bit high, but it didn’t stop me enjoying the whole experience.
“Overall, it was really exciting and I was really happy with my own – and the team’s – performance.
“People had to tell me about the history and how big a win this was for us. It was hard to grasp that at first, but I definitely understand the run of wins we are on and the importance of this moment.
“Saturday was special to be a part of.
“After the game, we had my cap presentation and it was just amazing. My mum and dad got to come into the changing rooms, it was really special and so nice for them to be there.”
Alex Stewart, Scotland cap #236 💙#AsOne pic.twitter.com/Z94eRPstLU
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 24, 2024
Stewart is Scotland cap number 236 and it was presented to her by captain Rachel Malcolm who, with the other players, staff and proud parents watching on, said: “Scotland won in Wales in 2004 [30-10 at the Arms Park on February 14], but I am pretty sure something else cool happened in 2004 too – the birth of a very special rugby player [Stewart was born on May 28].
“I just want to say I think you have been phenomenal, you have been in with the group now for four weeks and you’d think you had been here four years.
“You have shown maturity well beyond your – very small! – years and you were outstanding in the match.
“You could not tell that you had not played at this level before, you were everywhere on the pitch and it is an honour to present you with the first cap of which I am sure will be very many.”
Quite a debut then and memories to last a lifetime – what did parents Kirsty and Breck make of it all?
“As soon as Alex made her first tackle our nerves dissipated and we were able to watch the rest of the game with a rising recognition that all her hard work was paying off – she looked every bit the internationalist,” Breck said once he had got his voice back.
“We are so very proud of her.”
Stewart will hope to earn her first home cap this coming weekend against France at Hive Stadium in round two of the Six Nations – and her dad might not be the only one who loses their voice cheering Scotland’s newest young gun on going forward.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments