The women’s Arnold Clark Premiership season begins on Saturday and, after finishing between fifth and eighth last year, Hillhead Jordanhill, Biggar, Cartha Queens Park and Garioch are all looking forward to 2026/27.
In recent years the eight-team division has run up until a final in December, but with the Sarah Beaney Cup – from October 17 – running alongside the top flight this term, the league final will not be until March with the cup final later.
There will be plenty of twists and turns before then and the initial goal for all the teams involved is to make it into the top four by the time stage one of the Premiership campaign comes to an end in November.
Stirling County won the title last season and have been crowned champions three out of the last four times, but there are a number of teams who will look to challenge them this time around while, at the other end, teams will want to avoid eighth place and the drop to the new National League.
Siobhann McGinley, the Hills captain whose side were fifth last year and reached the Sarah Beaney Cup final, said: “After finishing in the bottom four of the league last year, coming back into the league this year I think we want to prove a bit of a point and show that we are a top four side.
“That is our first aim and then we can build from there in the league and the cup, we need to really grasp things and make sure we are in the top four after stage one of the Premiership.
I think we’re a pretty quick team. Sometimes we like to get into arm wrestles, but we’re looking to expand our game into playing wide and using our strong midfield to give us a good attacking platform.
“We’ve got some really good players to build the team around and we want to build our pack up as well. We want to play a quick and fast game, but be strong all over the pitch.”
Biggar were sixth last time out in their first year at this level and their co-captain Ellie Ritchie, who will be leading them with Alyson Henderson this season, said: “We were really proud of ourselves last season, but now that we know what to expect at this level we are ready to go again and we want to be more clinical in attack given the chance.
“We have a great girls’ section at Biggar and that means that we can bring through young players as they progress and bleed them in at this level. It can be a big step up for teenagers coming into the Premiership, but they have plenty of experienced players around them and we have brought in a few new faces too.
“The coaching team are brilliant and what I love about this squad is that we are all good friends who understand what an honour that it is to represent Biggar.”
Cartha Queens Park were seventh last season and their new skipper Shona Jessiman said: “Pre-season has gone really well.
“We’ve had some new players down and we’ve been working on a few things that will help us try and compete more regularly with the top teams in the division.
“We want to keep pushing the quality of our rugby, irrelevant of where we end up in the table, and we want to keep pushing the standards within our team.
“We have a second team and hopefully the players from that team pushing the first team players will bring the standards up and then we can build from where we are.”
Garioch were eighth last year and stayed up after winning the Regional Play-Off Series.
The Inverurie side pride themselves on making it tough for opponents at Kellands Park, but captain Sammy Ross also wants the players to have a bit more belief when they go on their travels this term.
Ross said: “After long bus journeys sometimes in the past we haven’t been as switched on at the start of games as we need to be and teams have got away from us.
“A big focus is starting away games better while, in general, I also want the girls to believe in their ability.
“We’re really excited to be in and around the Premiership environment again.”
The fixtures are here.
Representatives of these four clubs are pictured – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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