Adelle Ferrie admits she is still trying to come back down to earth from the “surreal” moment when she made her Scotland rugby debut last weekend.
Most of the international squad are full-time rugby players these days while Ferrie works in an administration role at the Sheriff Court in Edinburgh, but her form this term for Corstorphine Cougars as they won the Arnold Clark Premiership and Edinburgh Rugby in the Celtic Challenge saw her named in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations training squad a few weeks ago.
The 27-year-old second-row continued to impress in training and was handed a place on the bench for the competition opener versus Wales at Hive Stadium in the capital last Saturday.
With five minutes to go Scotland were up 24-21 in the pouring rain and the game was in the balance, but head coach Bryan Easson had no qualms about throwing Ferrie into the action for fellow newbie Hollie Cunningham.
Ferrie might have been nervous entering the fray, but if she was she did not show it and she managed to claim three lineouts and help the team get across the line.
“I haven’t recovered quite yet, no,” she said with a smile.
“I think I am slightly getting back to earth now given that we are training again and have a job to do to prepare for the next match, but Saturday was unreal and it was a very surreal moment for me that I have waited to happen for a while.
“It was nice to get out there and get my first cap in front of all the fans and my family and I was so happy that the coaches and the players trusted me to come on in a crucial moment when realistically Wales still could have had another chance to score.
“I felt really happy that I was trusted to come on and obviously I did my role pretty well, helped us keep the ball and then we got the ball out to give us the win.
“At first, I didn’t actual realise what had happened because I will still on the floor after the lineout and the maul, but then people started to jump about!
“When I realised I was very happy because it was my first cap, it was a win for Scotland and I had a small part to play in it which felt very special and quite unreal.
“My family, my friends and my boyfriend were there and some girls from Corstorphine too and it was really nice to receive my cap in front of them and my Scotland team mates after the game.
“Captain Rachel Malcolm said some really nice words about me too and that meant a lot.”
It was not pretty at times against Wales, but Scotland got over the line for a 13th Test win in the last 17.
On Thursday, Ferrie and her squad mates are set to be travelling to France ahead of their round two match in the Stade Marcel-Deflandre in La Rochelle on Saturday and she will hope to win cap number two there.
Ferrie’s rugby journey really began in Dundee.
She grew up in Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, but moved to the City of Discovery for university.
“When I was at school we had one time when we went to an inter-schools rugby tournament, but we were more just running about,” Ferrie, whose brothers Allan and Will play for Melrose, explained.
“When I was thinking of going to uni after school I knew I wanted to give rugby a proper go, I am not sure exactly why, but both my brothers played. I hadn’t really been too involved or watched internationals on TV, I just really wanted to play.
“I was just about to turn 18 when I went to Dundee to study criminology at Abertay University. Abertay didn’t have a women’s team, but we trained and played with Morgan meaning that we were playing in club leagues on a Sunday.
“We then kind of got the Abertay women’s team going and we had that for three years while I was there and I was also the women’s section president at one point.
“While I was at Abertay I was playing for the uni and for Howe of Fife to get a better standard of games and training and I enjoyed that. As a result, Dundee and the surrounding area has played a big part in my rugby life to date.
“I then moved home after uni with the family then in Newcastleton and I started working in Carlisle just over the border and played for Carlisle Cougars.
“Things have moved on since then to Corstorphine and Edinburgh and I am still processing my Scotland debut, it’s like a dream.”
The Scotland matchday 23 to play France is due to be named on Thursday.
The Guinness Women’s Six Nations runs from March 22 to April 26 and, after a trip to France in round two on March 29, Scotland are at Hive Stadium in round three versus Italy on April 13 – get tickets for the two Scotland remaining home games here.
Adelle Ferrie is pictured with her brother Allan after the Wales game
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