'Quite literally second to none': The Scotland star taking women's rugby by storm

Evie Gallagher’s 2026 has been a tale of frustration, resilience and individual brilliance.

In great form at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, she started the Premiership Women’s Rugby season on fire for Bristol Bears only for a hamstring injury to rule her out of this year’s edition of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

Without her, Scotland finished fifth in the Championship. Defeats to England, Italy, France and Ireland sorely emphasised how much they missed the 26-year-old back-row – along with injuries to other players in key positions.

In the wake of her exploits these past two months, Gallagher has been named 29th on the RugbyPass Top 50 Women’s Rugby Players 2026.

Ball-in-hand, Gallagher is nothing short of ferocious and is more likely than not to send a defender tumbling over. In defence she has a high tackle completion rate and is astute at the breakdown too – the forward topped PWR for turnovers.

Gallagher wasted little time making her mark on her return to Test rugby, starting all five of Scotland’s matches in an ultimately difficult WXV Global Series campaign.

She started in all five matches for Dave Butcher’s side. And, even though they lost matches to Canada, New Zealand and three to Australia, ranked among the top 5% of No.8s for defenders beaten and try assists. She also carried the ball further than any other player in her position.

It is little wonder that her international captain believes Gallagher is easily among the world’s best.

“Evie’s, for me, the on form player in the world at the minute and I don’t think that is something I would ever say lightly,” Malcolm said in October. “She’s just class in every single aspect and I think the way in which she carries the ball and punches above her weight in that area is testament to the nuances of what she does in and around that contact area.

“Defensively, well that’s always been her trademark. Her ability to tackle but probably most importantly, the ability for us to get the ball back with her over the ball is quite literally second to none in the world at the minute and I think to have that in our team and in our armoury is huge.”

After Scotland’s three losses to the Wallaroos, which concluded their WXV Global Series 2026 campaign, Gallagher will return to PWR club Bristol for the new league season.

The West Country club have made a splash this offseason with the recruitment of Red Roses full-back Ellie Kildunne, and have seen both Abbie Ward and Lark Atkin-Davies return to action after pregnancy in JAECOO PWR Next Gen Cup action in recent weeks.

A side aiming to improve upon their eighth-place finish in the league, Gallagher will be key to a change in fortunes and potential return to the top four.

“Evie is one of the best players in the world in her position,” Scott Lawson, Bristol Bears head coach, said. “Her ability to perform across the back row gives us huge flexibility, but what really sets her apart is the impact she has all over the pitch.

“To lead the league for turnovers shows the level of influence she has defensively, but her carrying, physicality and work rate make her a complete player. She drives standards every day and is a massive part of the environment we’re building here.”

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