Scots in the PWR: How league is boosting national game north of the border

Statistics will tell you that Scotland’s women have performed better at a Rugby World Cup than they managed earlier this year.

What they won’t give you though, is the vital context of where Scotland have had to go to over the last few months of contract uncertainty and staff upheaval. Or even the decades prior to this which saw them miss out on qualifying for the tournament at all- this makes making the quarter finals against England in September all the more impressive.

Centralised contracts and management reshuffling aside, Scotland appears a far more settled environment on the field these days, with a clear philosophy and game plan adapted to the strength of the squad.

Key to making this a reality is the influx of players plying their trade in the English Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) league, which kicked off this weekend.

The impact has been clear to see. Out of 32 players former coach Bryan Easson took to the World Cup, 25 play in the PWR, including Scotland’s stand-out winger and new Trailfinders signing, Francesca McGhie.

“In the PWR, you play with the best players in the world and also against them,” said McGhie. “There are not really many other places that you can get this sort of development, whether that is with team-mates, coaches, even friends. The PWR is at such a good level that it’s 100% improved my game.

“That’s translating to Scotland as well; we’re such a tight group and we’ve made history so many times together and we don’t plan on stopping that.”

McGhie made the off-season move to Trailfinders after impressing in a two-year spell with Leicester Tigers. With 13 tries from 25 appearances and an equally impressive 16 tries from 26 caps for Scotland, McGhie is hopeful that the attacking philosophy of Trailfinders will help unlock even more form.

“I’ve still got a lot more to give, I’m only 22. From the outset, Trailfinders always looked like a club with a great culture and their ambition was another pulling factor. At Scotland, we’re focused a lot on attack and that is very similar here at Trailfinders; it’s benefitted us a lot at national level so it should suit me for the next few seasons too,” added McGhie.

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Proof of Trailfinders’ grand ambitions has been an impressive recruitment drive during the off-season, signing Black Ferns’ Alana Borland and Georgia Ponsonby alongside World Cup winner Meg Jones and Scottish trio McGhie, Emma Wassell and Rachel Malcolm.

With women’s rugby now at an all-time spike in popularity, the global appeal of the PWR to spectators is also beginning to hit home.

At Trailfinders alone, 18 members of the squad played at the World Cup, from nine nations. USA captain Kate Zackary, Spain hooker Cristina Blanco, Irish back row Grace Moore and Scottish second row Wassell are just some of the names to have featured in the tournament this year.

Wassell is not expected to present for the start of the campaign as she continues to recover from a stress fracture to her knee. Like McGhie, she made the off-season move further down south, with the fresh challenge of testing herself in a new environment too good to turn down.

“You can see how ambitious the club has been with the recruitment, (with players) coming over from New Zealand,” says Wassell. “That’s a fun prospect for me to be able to play alongside a Black Fern, which I’ve not had the opportunity to do in the past.

“Ponsonby who is our hooker, is a pivotal signing as far as I am concerned as a second row too, it’s just an exciting club to be at right now.

“From watching Trailfinders last season, they are very serious about what they need to do to secure that top four position [for the play-offs], they’ve always been a huge attacking threat and maybe slightly weaker on defence. And set piece.”

Whether with Scotland or her former club Loughborough Lightning, Wassell has been an invaluable member on the pitch, equally adept with ball in hand and defensively at the breakdown.

New surroundings often bring out the best in players and Wassell is hopeful that her area of expertise can have a positive effect on the Trailfinders squad.

“And as boring as it sounds, I do probably care too much about the set piece and the line-out as that’s my thing; I want it functioning well,” she says.

“There’s a lot that goes behind a good set piece and having a world class hooker plays a big role in nailing that down. And that’s where we have huge potential, we can make that a threat this season if we can get it working well.

“I feel like I can bring some value to that area too, especially working well with Rachel (Malcolm) at Scotland so that’s nice to have that level of continuity.”

Rather than reinventing the wheel with wholesale changes to its squad, Trailfinders’ ambitions lay with the eclectic blend of old and new.

Wassell and McGhie will be joined at Trailfinders by Scotland captain Malcolm who brought a nine-year spell with Loughborough Lightning to an end earlier this year as she goes in search of the next step in her career post-World Cup.

“I had it the back of my mind the whole time [the move], it was a nice carrot to chase,” explains Malcolm. “It definitely helped with the World Cup blues and it kind of felt like the right time to make a change. I knew that, at this point in my career, that if I wanted to continue playing, I needed a new environment to kind of energise me because it’s a club that has big aspirations and the culture really speaks to me.”

Prior to joining Loughborough in 2015, Malcolm was a key member of the Lichfield Ladies squad and is one of the few Scottish players never to have played her club rugby north of the border.

Despite this, Malcolm believes that the strengthening club game in both Scotland (through the Celtic Challenge) and England can only be seen positively with regards to boosting the national game.

“What I’ve found the most beneficial so far is that we’re learning from some of the best coaches in the game, the best players,” Malcolm says.

“The ideas and traits that we pick up here can have a really big impact back home for the national side too and kind of help drive Scotland forward.

“Not every Scottish player has to move to England to play high quality rugby, there’s definitely a place for them to play club rugby in Scotland, whether it’s local clubs or the Celtic Challenge, but from my personal perspective, it’s been the best thing for my career.”

As for the coming season, Malcolm is hopeful Trailfinders can blend their known attacking strength with a bolstered set piece and defensive structures to compete for the coveted top four play-off spot.

“We’re optimistic that we can tidy up some areas of our game, focus more on the defensive side, which is what I am probably better at, although I am used quite a bit more as a jumper in the set piece.

“Obviously, the season is long and once the rugby starts, anything can happen so our plan is to just take it game-by-game and see where we are.”