Hannah Dunnett is looking forward to kicking on with her rugby career going forward after the 20-year-old scrum-half made her Glasgow Warriors debut recently.
The Hillhead Jordanhill player from Caithness came off the bench in the 57-31 Celtic Challenge defeat for Glasgow in Belfast versus the Clovers on January 18.
“I really enjoyed getting a chance with Glasgow and I’ve been working hard to get to this stage,” Dunnett said.
“Coming into the Glasgow environment recently and training with the squad it’s been really good, everything is done at a really high intensity.
“We’re doing three gym sessions and three pitch training sessions a week and it does really push your skillset and push your determination to improve and be the best you can be.
“The hard work paid off around the Clovers game and it was fun to be involved in the matchday squad for the first time.
“When I got on, I really wanted to take my chance and I felt like I did that. The team like to play a fast brand of rugby, get on the front foot in attack and play what is in front of them and that is my style of play too.
“As a young player you are always learning, especially as a scrum-half, and I’ll just keep working hard and see what the rest of the season brings my way.”
Dunnett may be a young player still, but she was certainly young when she first took up the game at her local club Caithness.
“I played at Caithness from the age of seven up until I was 18,” Dunnett, who is in her third year at Glasgow University studying for a degree in physiology and sports science, explained.
“Like most kids, I tried lots of activities, but my dad played rugby in Caithness and I’d kind of been around the club since I was born so I kind of just fell into it and, to be fair, have loved the sport ever since.
“Up until I was 12 I played in the minis with the boys and then moved into the girls’ section after that.
“We’ve always had a really good girls’ section at the club and when I moved into the girls’ section they were looking for a new coach and my dad took over.
“He has been involved with that section and other parts of the club since then and I loved going into the under-15s at first and then the under-18s and it was all really structured and you felt like you were learning all of the time plus you got to play in the same teams as your friends.
“We always had pretty good teams moving through the years and because we travelled a lot together for games we had good team spirit.
“We made national finals at both age-grades and when I was only 12 I played for the under-15s on the big pitch at Murrayfield and that was amazing.
“I am so proud that Caithness take girls rugby so seriously and give so many youngsters an opportunity to play. The likes of myself and Morven Thomson and Tamzin Rosie who are currently with Edinburgh Rugby have come through the club and I am sure more players will in the future too.
“We’ve currently got over 35 girls playing and whenever I am home I head along to help coach them.”
When she was in her final year at Thurso High School, Dunnett’s rugby was gathering pace and she had already represented Scotland at under-18 level.
As a result, coaches and herself wanted to push outside the comfort zone and that meant linking up with Heriot’s senior team in the Women’s Premiership.
“It was a big move because obviously I was still at school and Edinburgh is about 250 miles away from home, but I wanted to give it a go,” she stated.
“My school and my parents were very helpful in making it a possibility while everyone at Heriot’s helped me to settle in aged 17. It was a test doing all the juggling, all the travelling and playing at that level so young, but I think it helped me moving forwards.
“Since then, I have been through in Glasgow with Hillhead Jordanhill and it is a great club. My rugby is keeping me busy just now along with my studies, but I wouldn’t want it any other way especially after the injuries I have previously had.
After my first year of under-18s and playing for Scotland I tore my ACL and my meniscus in my knee, but I didn’t know the injury was that bad.
“I didn’t get scans and I rehabbed it and I was back playing in about three months. Then I played that whole next season and, round about the time school finished, I tore my other ACL.
“After a lot of back and forth about a possible operation and such like, decided that I’d just rehab it myself and wouldn’t get surgery.
“I was back playing in six weeks which is pretty much unheard of. I’ve still not had surgery to this day so touch wood my knees are all good and I can just keep moving on with my rugby.”
On Saturday, Glasgow – with Dunnett on the bench – are at home to the Clovers and Edinburgh are hosting Brython Thunder.
Hannah Dunnett is pictured – thanks to Glasgow Warriors – and she is also pictured in her Caithness days