History will be made in Edinburgh on Saturday when the Wallaroos play in Scotland for the very first time and further history could also be made if Michaela Leonard is in the visiting matchday 23.
That is because if the 31-year-old Western Force second-row gets game time on the Hive Stadium pitch for the world ranked ninth side versus their eighth ranked hosts then she would become the first Australian female player ever to reach 50 caps for her country.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself with selection to come, but if that opportunity does come my way, it would be an absolute honour,” Leonard, who is Wallaroo number 168 and made her debut in 2019, said.
“Getting the chance to represent your country and wear the emblem on your chest once is pretty special, but to be able to do it possibly 50 times, wow that’s extra special.
“Playing for your country is something that many times is something that you don’t take for granted and is something that will probably sit with you for a very long time.
“Hopefully I get the chance to get to 50 caps this weekend in what is a big game for us.”
When she looks back on her career in the future, cap number 49 will also be one that Leonard will remember as it was the game where Australia so nearly beat world number four ranked side France in their own back yard in the WXV Global Series.
The Wallaroos played some great rugby in Aix-en-Provence on Saturday and were 26-12 up at one stage in a crazy game that featured seven cards and a delay for a bus fire outside the stadium.
It looked like Australia might record a landmark triumph until France mounted a comeback to win 29-26 and leave the visitors wondering what might have been.
“That was definitely a tough loss,” Leonard, who started the game, admitted.
“I think the close ones always are, particularly when we feel that we were in a position to win it and really let ourselves down execution-wise.
“But we’ve reviewed it really well as a team as well and there’s plenty of positives to take away from the game.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth over the last few weeks, looking back to our game against New Zealand and then England and then the France game over the weekend.
“We’ve definitely seen a lot of improvement in the way that we’re playing. The stats are showing that our collision dominance and things like that are going really well, we just need to be more ruthless and clinical when we get the chance.
“There were definitely moments in the France game where we could have executed things better.
“It’s all part of the learning and I think it’s the most exciting thing to now have a three-game series against Scotland in which we can go and implement those learnings and see how we go.”
As Leonard mentions, their next three Tests are against Scotland and while there is excitement about the games back home in Sydney and Canberra to come, the main focus right now is this weekend’s WXV game in Edinburgh.
Australia go into it having won one Test out of seven in 2026 while Scotland have been on the exact same run this year.
As a result, and given the sides closeness in the world rankings, this really should be a close affair and not for the faint hearted.
The two countries have met four times before with Australia winning all four – 25-15 at the Rugby World Cup in the Netherlands in 1998, 30-0 at the Rugby World Cup in Spain in 2002, 14-12 at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand played in 2002 and 31-22 in the WXV 2 title decider in South Africa in 2024.
Leonard was in the stands for the 2022 meeting and was involved as captain in 2024 and she and her team mates are preparing themselves for another hard-fought tussle.
“I definitely expect another close Test match,” she stated.
“Both the recent meetings were very close, very physical games and pretty much toe-to-toe for the whole 80 minutes.
“We know it’ll be a tough match and we know that we’re going to have to execute things well and take our opportunities when they come for us this weekend.
“Despite the recent losses to New Zealand, England and France, we’re really confident in the growth of the squad and the combinations that we’ve been building over the last few weeks.
“We’re confident in our ability to get the job done this weekend if we can tick off all of the things we want to achieve in the game, but we know it is going to take 80 minutes of effort to get over the line.”
Michaela Leonard is pictured – thanks to the Wallaroos
It is shaping up to be an exciting 2026/27 season for women’s rugby in Scotland and GH Media will be covering it in detail – if any companies are keen to support this content please send an email to gary@gh-media.co.uk