Sione Fukofuka: 'It’s a project that’s exciting'

There is a gleam in the eye of Sione Fukofuka at the Guinness Women’s Six Nations launch event.

In two weekends’ time he will take charge of Scotland for the first time.

His opening gambit as head coach will be in Cardiff at the Principality Stadium, where the Scots will take on Sean Lynn’s Wales.

It will be the 41-year-old’s first time experiencing the ebbs and flows of a Women’s Six Nations.

To contend with that former Wales boss Ioan Cunningham has been brought in as an assistant coach, while the vastly experienced Dave Butcher arrived after time with Canada Women.

“It’s a project that’s exciting,” Fukofuka said. “They’re a top six team at the moment, playing in the Six Nations where they get a chance to play against top tier opposition.

“PAC4 [Pacific Four Series] was great, but Six Nations is that next level where you get an opportunity to really build a team through a competition outside of the World Cup.

“I had a really good conversation with David Nucifora [Scottish Rugby Performance Director] around what Scotland was looking for over the next four to eight years and it was really enticing. I was pretty keen to be a part of that.”

Fukofuka’s arrival has seemingly put a close on the uncomfortable uncertainty of contract disputes that overshadowed the team’s Women’s Rugby World Cup run. Something that will be of great comfort to everyone involved with the team.

He arrived in Scotland several months after his time with the USA Women’s Eagles ended.

He has traded Ilona Maher for Emma Orr. Cookies for shortbread. Gatorade for Irn-Bru.

At the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup the Eagles exited at the group stages of the competition on points difference as the Wallaroos pipped them to the quarter-finals.

Scotland made it to the last eight before eventual champions England sent them packing with a 40-8 scoreline.

Already Fukofuka has had a couple of hurdles to overcome. Evie Gallagher, one of Scotland’s top performers at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, has been ruled out of the tournament with injury.

Injury has also meant that 22-cap loosehead prop Anne Young replaced by uncapped Demi Swann in the squad.

Swann’s inclusion means that there are now three uncapped players in the squad. There have been recalls for in-form Meryl Smith, Shona Campbell and Louise McMillan.

Fukofuka only got one training camp with his new squad in January before selecting a 38-player squad for the Women’s Six Nations. And the head coach knows that he wants to see more of the attributes, that to his mind at least, already made Scotland great.

“What people can expect is this Scottish team playing to their values,” Fukofuka said. “They’re a team that plays for the full 80. They have a really strong work-rate.

“What we want to try and unlock is – what we saw in bits of that World Cup – endeavour, expansiveness and the skill level.

“Hopefully the coaching group that we’ve put together, we’ll be able to prepare them as well as we can so that we’ll get that consistency in performance that every team is chasing.”