Sarah Bonar has revealed how speaking to sports psychologists after a run of injuries has helped her get back to her sharpest and she is ready to hit the ground running with Scotland this season.
Harlequins second-row Bonar missed the 2023 Six Nations with a collarbone injury before returning to help the national team win the WXV 2 tournament in South Africa late last year.
She then started the Six Nations opener this year in Wales, but went off with a shoulder injury and missed the rest of the competition.
Over the last four weeks she has been taking part in pre-season with the Scotland wider squad with everything building up to September Tests with Wales and Fiji and then WXV 2 again and, in the longer term, the Rugby World Cup 2025 in England next August and September.
The 30-year-old from Aberdeen with 37 caps to her name said: “Getting injured versus Wales earlier this year was tricky, especially after missing the previous Six Nations campaign with my other shoulder/collarbone.
“It was tricky from a personal point of view because as a player you want that consistency of game time and I guess I have struggled with that internationally over the last couple of years.
“Rehab went well though and I do a lot of work with sport psychologists and I think that helps with those demons.
“I am feeling in a good place and I am excited to be back with the girls.
“Ultimately this year or next 14 or so months is about the World Cup and these next two Tests we have at home versus Wales and Fiji are good building blocks to that.
“I think our progress has been remarkable, that sounds a bit dramatic, but I think we are pushing and what’s different now is that we are more consistent with our performances and with our results and we are there contending against some of the top teams in the world.
“We have good chunks of international rugby coming up in the next year and that’ll help us build nicely into the World Cup.”
In her younger days Bonar used to row to a high level so she was delighted to watch from afar as Team GB won a few rowing medals at the Paris Olympics recently.
She used to compete with a few of the athletes who were in France and was pleased to see Emily Ford pick up a bronze medal in the women’s eight.
Someone who Bonar knows very well and is well known for rowing very long distances is Taylor Winyard and she will be presenting the match ball at the Fiji game on September 14 at Hive Stadium.
“She used to be a kayaker and she trained in Nottingham where I used to row so we have got mutual connections through that,” Bonar, who is in the RAF, said.
“Now she is one of my good mates and she has not only rowed the Pacific, but the Atlantic too and the stories I have heard are remarkable.
“That is just all up there, it is the top two inches, to do something like the recent one after previously rowing the Atlantic is just crazy, but to have her involved bringing the ball out at the Fiji game will be class and special for the whole squad especially those of us who know her.”
Rowing two great oceans has been a highlight for Winyard and a highlight for Bonar during last year’s WXV 2 success in South Africa was scoring a solo try from quite some distance out in the win over Japan.
“It is all a bit of a blur really,” she laughed.
“I just remember thinking ‘there is a kick I might as well see if I can reach it’ and so I grabbed it and then thought I need to run now!
“In the run up to the game I had tweaked my back and one of the things I had been struggling with was opening up and striding so I’d had a chat with the physio and said if I got the ball we’d play things low key and play a passing game and would not thinking about opening up too much – and then in one of my first instances on the ball there was no other option but to go!
“It was class and it was a nice one to score.”
Scotland have now finished their four week pre-season and the 30-strong squad for the upcoming September Tests and WXV 2 will be named next week.
Scotland women’s training squad (uncapped in bold)
Forwards
Leah Bartlett
Gemma Bell
Christine Belisle
Holland Bogan
Sarah Bonar
Elliann Clarke
Lisa Cockburn
Eva Donaldson
Evie Gallagher
Jade Konkel
Rachel Malcolm
Elis Martin
Fiona McIntosh
Rachel McLachlan
Louise McMillan
Lana Skeldon
Alex Stewart
Emma Wassell
Anne Young
Backs
Cieron Bell
Beth Blacklock
Leia Brebner-Holden
Coreen Grant
Caity Mattinson
Jenny Maxwell
Mairi McDonald
Francesca McGhie
Liz Musgrove
Rhona Lloyd
Helen Nelson
Emma Orr
Lisa Thomson
Chloe Rollie
Lucia Scott
Meryl Smith
Day trainers invited into camp to support their development
Merryn Gunderson
Natasha Logan
Hannah Walker
Hannah Ramsay
Aila Ronald
Rachel Philipps added on August 12
Sky Phimister added on August 19
Sarah Bonar is pictured taking training, thanks to Scottish Rugby/SNS for the image
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