'I absolutely loved it': How a 330km walk kept Rhona Lloyd on the pitch

Last year Rhona Lloyd was contemplating retiring following the Women’s Rugby World Cup after falling out of love with the game.

The Scotland winger struggled after being left out of the GB sevens squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics and didn’t have time to process the omission as she went straight into that year’s WXV 2 in South Africa.

The 29-year-old needed some time away from the game before the Women’s Rugby World Cup and that came in the form of the Camino de Santiago 330km walk.

“I was really not enjoying rugby and at a stage where I didn’t know if I wanted to keep playing after the World Cup,” Lloyd said.

“In that I was supposed to be going back to France to finish the season with Bordeaux but then decided I wasn’t doing that. So then I had four weeks off that I didn’t anticipate having and this walk was one I had my eye on and always thought ‘oh I’ll do that after rugby’.

“I spoke to Bryan Easson, who was our Scotland head coach at the time, and said ‘I think I want to go and do this’. He has known me for a really long time and I think he took his coaching hat off and treated me as a person first which I really appreciated. He was like ‘go do what you’re going to do’.

“I then came back from that feeling a lot better. As rugby players, especially in this professional era which I didn’t expect to happen in my time at all and I feel so so grateful that it has, but being a rugby player can be really wrapped up in your identity.

“I think doing something away from rugby, nobody knew I was a rugby player, it was really nice to detach from that a little bit. I absolutely loved it.”

The walk is just one piece of the puzzle as to why Lloyd has continued her rugby career. She also credits Scotland’s Women’s Rugby World Cup run and signing for Sale Sharks from Stade Bordelais last season.

Lloyd added: “When you’re kind of having that much time in your own head, it definitely gave me time to process things. I never did that after the Olympics [snub], I was straight back into WXV and then club.

“I think with Scotland, our success at the World Cup and just how much fun we had as a group, I think we really nailed the environment during that time in terms of switching on on pitch and also enjoying each other’s company and making memories off pitch.

“The two teams who beat us at the World Cup [Canada and England] were the two teams to compete in the final so I think there was an awful lot to be proud of.

“Then definitely Sale Sharks has been amazing for me. That club is a really special place, it was something I had heard over the years but to be there and live and breathe it, it is a proper family club. They really look after their own.

“Because I had the player role there but also coaching U18s [Lloyd is the strength and conditioning coach] that has allowed me to start thinking about my future a little bit and challenge myself in a new way. I think Sale has been huge for me as well.”

Lloyd will next take to the pitch in the WXV Global Series with Scotland, who are scheduled to play home matches against Canada, New Zealand and the Wallaroos before an away trip to Australia for two Tests. The team have been hit with some disruption in the build-up with their head coach Sione Fukofuka abruptly leaving his post because of personal reasons.

Forwards coach Dave Butcher has been put in interim charge with Tom Luke and Chris Laidlaw as his assistant coaches. Lloyd has said while there has been change, there is an air of continuity for the team.

She added: “We knew that Sione’s in-laws had been sick but in terms of him leaving us to go back to Australia we found out not too long before coming together. But I think what has been amazing is how quickly we have processed that news and stuck together.

“The new coaching team we have got with us at the moment is amazing. Chris Laidlaw has been involved with the squad before, Robbie Fergusson [another new coach] has coached us at GB Sevens, there are familiar faces in the squad. Obviously Tom Luke has got a lot of contact with the girls who are at Bristol. So although it is a new coaching staff it doesn’t feel like new coaches.

“I am really impressed with the squad with how we have stuck together and started looking ahead and adapting and actually the environment two weeks in has been amazing. It has been really cool to be a part of and we are properly building towards 2029 now.”

Before Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029, which is being hosted in Australia, gets underway there are two other major tournaments Lloyd could potentially play in. First up is the inaugural women’s British & Irish Lions Women tour of New Zealand in 2027 before the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, Lloyd is taking her career season-by-season and if that leads to anything else it “will be a massive privilege and honour”.

“At the moment I am definitely all in with XVs,” Lloyd said. “I am really invested in the projects I am a part of in Scotland and Sale. I guess that is how I feel with the Lions as well. I think that is what I learned during that time [in 2024].

“You can really give your absolute all for something and you don’t have control. Rugby is a very subjective sport, you don’t ever have control over the final result regardless of performance in a lot of ways. I am focusing on the here and now but I do absolutely love sevens.

“I am super passionate about that sport. I will definitely play sevens again, it is just when that happens and it won’t be for chasing any tournament. It’ll be because I love sevens and it is the right time to do that.”