Katie Lindsay is really enjoying her rugby this season having helped Corstorphine Cougars lift the Arnold Clark Premiership trophy and now being involved in Glasgow Warriors’ Celtic Challenge campaign.
There have been some tough results for the Warriors so far in the six-team event featuring Scottish, Irish and Welsh representative sides, but three of their last four games are at home.
And that run of home games starts on Saturday when they welcome Edinburgh Rugby to Scotstoun at 2pm for what is sure to be a fiery affair with bragging rights on the line and some players looking to force their way into the Guinness Women’s Six Nations squad which is set to be named soon.
The main focus for Lindsay and co is just this derby match though and ahead of it the in-form tighthead prop, who starts, said: “We are really looking forward to this weekend.
“We have already had one home game and it was great to have family and friends there as well as Warriors’ fans and I think this occasion will be even bigger.
“I think the team has improved as we have gone through the campaign and I think personally I have got better as a player too just by getting the chance to play against quality opponents all the time.
“As someone coming up from being used to club rugby it tests you, but as a tighthead that is what you want and it really is true that no scrum is the same as the last one, they all throw up different challenges.
“I love that side of the game and in that respect it has been great to work with head coach Lindsey Smith because she is a former Scotland cap who has lots of great insight into front-row play.
“I also learnt a lot from current Scotland cap Lisa Cockburn when she was with us for a match and something I have been working hard on is my carrying and also my link play.
“I think my passing and link play in space is coming on and, as a pack, we know that if we can create just that extra bit of space then we really do have the backs that can trouble any team.
“As I say, we have been building as a unit all of the time and with four games left we really want to give it everything in this tournament.”
Lindsay came to rugby when she was 17 when her dad took her to a men’s Six Nations match at Murrayfield.
“When we were at the game he turned round to me and said ‘would I like to give it a go?’ and I was keen,” she explained.
“I lived in Dunfermline so we went along to the local club there and the women’s section was developing at the time so it was a good introduction to the sport for me and I had a great couple of years there.
“People said that I should then try to play in the Premiership so I joined Stirling County and after a few matches for the Falcons [the second team there] I was promoted into the firsts.
“That’s when the move to prop really came about and I loved learning from the experienced players around me there and was lucky enough to be part of the squad that won the Premiership title in 2022/23 which was a big moment.”
Due to living and working in Edinburgh, Lindsay decided to move to a club in the capital in the summer of 2023 and she chose Corstorphine Cougars.
By then she had already been capped for Scotland Futures versus England and the last nearly two seasons at Union Park have been great for her, culminating in the title win just before Christmas when they defeated County in the final.
“It was brilliant to win the league unbeaten with Cougars and head coach Eric Jones and everyone at the club has been so supportive of me since I joined,” Lindsay, who is 23 now and works for Crown Paints out with rugby and who played for Edinburgh in last year’s Celtic Challenge, said.
“We had played some really good rugby in the regular season, but we knew Stirling would throw everything at us in the final and it was a one-off game.
“I think the fitness work we had been putting in since the summer really came through in such a tight game while our team spirit also helped us get over the line.”
Be there to cheer on Glasgow Warriors in their second home match of the 2024/25 Celtic Challenge this Saturday – tickets are available at glasgowwarriors.org
Thanks to Glasgow Warriors for the image of Katie Lindsay
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