Rhona Lloyd finds her ‘why’ again ahead of Rugby World Cup 2025

Rhona Lloyd has revealed that six months ago, she was not sure if she was going to be in the right place mentally to take part in the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

However, the Scotland winger is now feeling refreshed and has her love of the game back ahead of the big dance in England.

And she cannot wait to travel down to Manchester this coming Friday with the rest of the 32-strong squad ahead of their Pool B opener with Wales on August 23rd.

In February, the 58-capper who has scored 25 tries for her country bravely took to social media to talk about mental health.

At the time, when she was playing her club rugby in France with Les Lionnes du Stade Bordelais, the 28-year-old from Edinburgh said:  “I’ve come back to Scotland for a couple weeks because I’ve been having a tough wee time with my mental health for a while and I wanted to get in a better headspace ahead of everything coming up this year.

 

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‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

“I felt like I’d got myself stuck in a negative spiral on and off the pitch, and I needed a reset.

“Mental health can be a really taboo subject, but the support I’ve received from club and country has been incredible and made this period and decision so much easier.

“I’ve really gone back and forth about whether I wanted to share this on social media, but I think it’s important to talk about. It’s okay not to be okay.

“So, this is what life looks like right now – getting back into training in Edinburgh, finding my ‘why’ again and feeling very grateful for my wider team.”

And, over the last few months through the Guinness Women’s Six Nations and into World Cup preparation camps and Summer Tests, Lloyd has found her ‘why’ again.

At the Scotland World Cup announcement last Thursday in St Andrews, the flyer, who has signed for PWR outfit Sale Sharks for 2025/26, said: “Six months ago, I didn’t know if I’d be going to this World Cup.

“I was really struggling with not enjoying rugby and was not enjoying playing.

“It had been a really tough time for me coming off not getting selected for the Olympics [with GB Sevens for Paris 2024], and that was always going to take time to get over.

“And I didn’t really give myself that time last summer, it was very much straight from the Olympics disappointment into WXV 2 with Scotland, then straight into a club season, and it was all a bit much.

“I think that was a big learning curve in terms of trying to slow down at times, so after the Six Nations, I had some time off, came back in for pre-season with Scotland and tried to change my outlook a little bit and kind of just focus on myself and enjoy rugby again.

“I’ve absolutely loved pre-season, the team around me has been absolutely amazing in terms of getting me back to where I need to be to perform, and I am so excited to be playing for Scotland with a smile on my face again and remembering why I do it.”

During the time off that she mentioned, Lloyd took on a Camino de Santiago travel adventure in Europe and got out of the “rugby bubble” for a while.

The Camino de Santiago is a network of walking routes across Europe culminating in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Lloyd admits:  “It was a big step out of my comfort zone, but it was amazing and just what I needed at that time.

“I took a big step back, and I really got out of the rugby bubble. I think that gave me a lot of perspective about things and helped me make the decision, which was right for me, which was to come back to rugby fully refreshed.”

Her close friend and teammate Emma Wassell’s illness also put rugby into perspective for Lloyd.

Last August, the second-row spent nearly two weeks in hospital after a tumour on her chest was discovered during a Scotland training block.

She then had one operation before a second, a full sternotomy, came in November.

Since then, the 30-year-old has battled her way back to full fitness and played the two Scotland Summer Tests against Italy and Ireland and is in the World Cup squad.

Lloyd has been a real tower of strength for Wassell through those times, and she added:  “Watching what Emma was going through made me realise that rugby is not the most important thing in the world, even though a lot of the time for us it feels like it is.

“When Emma stepped on the pitch against Italy a couple of weeks ago, I felt like a weight had been lifted, it felt like a full circle moment, and it felt like we’d completed that journey.

“To have a tumour and a sternotomy and then be back playing international rugby is incredible, and there’s no bigger warrior than her.

“Her whole journey just made me realise what is important in life and that while rugby is great, it is not everything.

“I have definitely found my ‘why’ again, and people around me – team mates, Scotland staff, family, friends and psychologists – have helped me take those steps.

“In the Scotland squad, we just have the best group of people, and we are all just buzzing for the World Cup now.”

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The Scotland squad will meet up in Edinburgh on Thursday before travelling south the following day and, after the aforementioned Wales game at the Salford Community Stadium, they will take on Fiji at the same venue on August 30th and then Canada at Sandy Park in Exeter on September 6th.