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The resurgence of Helen Nelson: 'With a new head coach, you feel like you need to prove yourself'
By Gary Heatly
Ten years ago this week Helen Nelson made her Scotland debut – and now a decade on the 31-year-old playmaker says she is “as motivated as I ever have been” to represent her country.
Since 2016, Nelson has experienced a number of highs and a number of lows in a dark blue jersey.
The most recent high was reaching the quarter-finals of last’s year’s Rugby World Cup while the most recent low was happening at the same time.
A lot went on off the field in the lead up to – and during – that showpiece event in England for the Scottish players to deal with and some are still mentally scarred by what when on.
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But, heading into a fresh Rugby World Cup cycle with a new head coach at the helm, stand-off Nelson is raring to go once again at an international level with the Guinness Women’s Six Nations just around the corner.
That is great news for all followers of Scottish rugby because Nelson is ninth equal in the Scottish female caps list with 75, has been a real calming influence within the group in recent years as Rachel Malcolm’s vice-captain, and is currently playing some of the best rugby of her career with PWR side Loughborough Lightning.
When the Lochaber Rugby Club, Murrayfield Wanderers and Edinburgh University product earned her first cap against France in the Six Nations on March 11th 2016 in front of a few hundred people at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, Nelson could not have imagined the journey she was about to embark on.
She has scored 244 points for her country, helped them win WXV 2 in 2023, has made appearances at two World Cups and has had a stellar club career with Montpellier and Lightning.
Nelson is not the loudest player around, but when she speaks people listen and last year she was pivotal in helping the Scotland squad navigate the tricky times amid contract talks and the difficult timing of the news pre-World Cup that head coach Bryan Easson was to be leaving his post after the competition.
“I think at the World Cup we had an amazing group of people dealing with all those off field issues and managed to keep it away from the general playing group as much as we could,” Nelson, who is one of 35 Scottish Rugby contracted players for 2025/26, reflects.
“We were very clear that we wanted to not have too many distractions as we navigated our way through the tournament and I was proud of the team making the quarter-finals.
“We were all there for each other on and off the pitch as much as we could be and, when we were knocked out, it felt like the end of an era with Bryan and defence coach Tyrone [Holmes] moving on and some players retiring.
“There’s a lot of change that’s happened recently and probably lots of change to come as well, but now I feel like things are the clearest that they’ve been for us in a while with the Six Nations just a few weeks away.
“Personally, I am absolutely as passionate as I ever have been about playing for Scotland. I’m not sure at what point that desire to represent your country goes – or if it ever goes – and I am feeling in a really good place.
“And with a new head coach coming in, you feel like you need to prove yourself and you need to put your best foot forward to continue to be selected. In that regard, I feel as motivated as I ever have.
“It is a new cycle and I know I’ve got a lot of work to put in, but I’m excited to prove myself and I want to continue playing for Scotland for as long as I can.”
The recently in-post head coach Nelson mentions is new face in Sione Fukofuka and with Easson having been in charge from 2020 to 2025 and having known many of the squad members a lot longer than that, it may take some players time to get used to the new regime.
Certainly Nelson has been impressed by what she has seen and heard from Australian Fukofuka so far.
“Sione and the other new coaches working with him have been really clear in terms of what they are looking for,” said Nelson.
“They’ve set out our goals for the four-year cycle leading up to the next World Cup in 2029 and it is cool to have that much clarity this far ahead in terms of where things are set to head on the field and off it in the next few years. As players it lets us know where we stand.
“Sione seems very detail-driven and he’s going to work us hard, but I think that’s really exciting. He’s clearly got very high standards and I think that works well with the evolving group that we have now. We want to work hard and know exactly where we’re headed and I think we are in for an exciting Six Nations campaign.”
Scotland’s Six Nations could not be starting in a more exciting manner.
First up on April 11th, they are away to Wales at the Principality Stadium and then, on April 18th, they are hosting world champions England at Murrayfield in front of what is going to be the largest crowd ever recorded for a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland.
“Going into those two big stadiums for our first two games is going to be something special,” Nelson concluded.
“It just shows the growth of the game from when I first started out at the top level in 2016 that the Principality and Murrayfield are even part of the conversation and we’ll be working hard to make sure we are ready and raring to go for those Test matches.”
In the mean time, Nelson will continue to ply her trade for Loughborough Lightning in the PWR, with the African Violets next facing Harlequins on Friday 13th March in round 14.
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