The daughter of a “rugby daft” farming family: Emma Orr on “whirlwind” first year
“It’s gone so quickly,” Emma Orr admits as she looks back on her first 12 months as a senior Scotland international. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”
Since being called into the Scotland squad for the 2022 Women’s Six Nations, Orr has played and trained with childhood idols, represented her country at the Commonwealth Games, appeared at a Rugby World Cup and earned a full-time professional contract.
Her assured performances at outside-centre – a position she had never played prior to making her Test debut against Wales last April – meanwhile, have garnered deserved plaudits and given Scotland fans cause for optimism during a difficult time.
“It’s been one thing then the next, great memories, great experiences,” Orr adds. “I’m really enjoying playing with this group and want to see it grow as well and continue to build and hopefully get results very soon.”
For the daughter of a “rugby daft” farming family, who describes herself modestly as “quite hard-working and chatty”, it must be a lot to digest.
Certainly, walking into her first Scotland training camp at the start of 2022 would have been a surreal experience. Not long before, Orr had seen the likes of Helen Nelson, Hannah Smith and Lisa Thomson as role models; now they were team-mates.
“I’d always just seen them through my screen on Instagram or on the TV,” she says. “Actually, meeting them in person and for them to know my name, it was all a bit like, ‘This is so strange!’ It still feels a bit like that to be honest, sometimes.
“But they’re the loveliest people and really welcoming, and really took me under their wing.”
Neither Smith nor Thomson were part of the Scotland squad that began the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, the former having retired and the latter accepting an offer to play for Great Britain on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Thomson returned for Sunday’s defeat to France, winning her 50th cap, and both have played their part in helping Orr, who played fly-half and full-back for Biggar RFC, settle into her new midfield position. “Getting to learn from them was probably the best thing to be honest,” she says.
“Playing alongside Thommo and learning from Hannah was brilliant and I think that’s part of why I’ve then fitted in quite well.”
To say that Orr has fitted into the team “quite well” is something of an understatement. Eight of her nine caps to date have been won from the start, and her arrival meant Smith spent most of her final year with Scotland on the wing.
But while Orr has settled into the Scotland number 13 jersey seamlessly, there is one statistic from her rookie year that she would love to change. She is yet to win a Test match.
It could have been very different. Scotland led Wales 19-7 after 42 minutes of her debut only to lose 24-19 as Ffion Lewis raced away for a late try, and Orr has subsequently been a part of narrow defeats to Ireland, the USA and Australia at the World Cup, the team unable to hold on to winning positions in each.
Their 2023 Six Nations campaign has been a story of further frustration. A 58-7 defeat to England in which the team showed glimpses of its quality, was followed by a deflating 34-22 home loss against Wales, a result Orr admits was “a tough one to take”.
In Vannes on Sunday, Scotland had possession for eight minutes longer than their hosts did, yet struggled to break into France’s 22 and could not capitalise when they did. A 17-0 half-time deficit swelled to 55-0 by full-time as legs and tackles grew tired.
“[It’s been] probably a missed opportunity and maybe a little bit inconsistent,” Orr says of Scotland’s start to the Championship. “When we’re good, we’re really good and I think we’re just frustrated that we’ve not put together that 80-minute performance yet.”
Scotland will need to find that complete display over the next two weekends as they take on Italy and Ireland, both at home, with important points up for grabs in terms of the Six Nations standings and ramifications for which tier of the WXV they will line up in this Autumn.
What Orr and Scotland can achieve over the next few years remains to be seen, but what isn’t in doubt is the journey the young centre has been on since she watched her siblings playing at Biggar, the club her father James served as president, and thought, “I want to do that”.
“I remember going to watch my brothers play,” Orr remembers, “and my sister, her under-15 team won the Scottish Cup. I just loved the team aspect of it and basically just fighting for each other. I’ve been inspired by watching my family and I think just that whole team aspect that your body’s on the line and you’re doing it for the people around you. I think that’s really special, [and gives you] a really good team feeling and a sense of belonging.”
The past year has been a momentous one, as Orr took her first steps in international rugby, learned a new position – “defensively, it’s been quite a difficult learning curve” – while moving clubs and continuing her university studies alongside full-time training commitments.
Playing for Biggar, she says, kept her grounded, connected to the reasons she picked up an oval ball in the first place. “That’s where I fell in love with it,” she explains.
But the daunting switch to Heriot’s, to play in the Scottish Women’s Premiership, was made to give herself the opportunity to become the best player she can be. “To better my rugby career and move to that next level,” she says. “They’re a very welcoming group and I feel very at home there, which is lovely.”
Ultimately, Orr wants to play rugby for as long as she can, and the youngster is ambitious about what the future could hold. Playing in her first World Cup, in New Zealand, at just 19 years old was “just incredible”, especially for someone whose family’s commitments on the farm dictated that holidays abroad were rare.
“That was definitely a pinch-me moment and I’m just privileged and really, really grateful to get to go on that journey with the squad,” she says. “I’ve got memories that will last a lifetime from it.”
If Orr gets her way, there will be plenty more memories to be made over the course of her career. Sevens is still a draw, and she has not ruled out playing on the Series one day, but it is a British team of a different kind that holds a special place in her heart.
Growing up in South Lanarkshire, it was the British and Irish Lions and their exploits in far-flung corners of the globe that captured the imagination of Orr and her siblings. The recent positive feasibility study into a women’s touring team has excited the Scotland centre.
“I remember my brother, he was like, ‘Why don’t they have a women’s Lions team?’ And so, it is so cool to see that happening. I think it would be such a special thing to be part of, particularly the first one,” Orr says.
“Probably the biggest thing we all look forward to is the Lions tour. As I say, my family’s rugby daft, so to know that is a possibility for the women’s game is so, so cool and inspiring and something I’ll strive to do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments