Orr returns to Scotland as Edinburgh confirm seven signings

Emma Orr headlines a group of seven Scotland internationals that have signed for Edinburgh Rugby ahead of next season.

The 23-year-old centre, who is currently undergoing rehabilitation for an ACL injury sustained at this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations, rejoins the club after two seasons with Bristol Bears in Premiership Women’s Rugby.

All seven players join the Celtic Challenge club as part of Scottish Rugby’s contracting model for the women’s programme. Further information on the contracting model will be confirmed by the union in the coming days.

Already a number of senior Scotland internationals have had their exits from PWR clubs confirmed. This includes Rachel Philipps’ departure from Sale Sharks, Elis Martin and Leia Brebner-Holden from Loughborough Lightning and Coreen Grant from Harlequins, who have all signed on with Edinburgh for 2026/27.

Philipps enjoyed a mesmeric Women’s Six Nations, where she gained a first Test start for her country and scored two tries against France at Hive Stadium. It was a tonic that soothed the upset of missing Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 and was just reward after a strong campaign for Edinburgh this season.

“It was definitely tough missing out on the World Cup with my knee,” Philipps told RugbyPass. “It was actually a grade one MCL injury and, just with the length of time I had to be in a brace, it was too tight to then get back before the warm-up games.

“Getting to the tournament was just not on the cards for me unfortunately, but I do think that I’ve used this season with Sale and then Edinburgh to really grow and I’m definitely in a much better place than I was pre-World Cup and I am all about looking forward now.”

It has also been announced that Emily Coubrough has joined from Glasgow Warriors, while 86-cap full-back Chloe Rollie arrives after a season with Rugby Club Toulon Provence Méditerranée in AXA Elite 1 Feminine.

This season in France, Rollie helped Toulon avoid relegation from the women’s top flight, instead committing Stade Villeneuvois Lille Metropole to the drop.

“I needed a different environment,” Rollie told RugbyPass in December. “A different challenge. And it wasn’t just the rugby that I had to learn. It was also the language, the culture, a new group of girls, [in] a team that had just come into the Elite 1.”