The Scotland women’s squad have been back together at Oriam this week as training gets underway ahead of the upcoming Test matches.
And, as well as new interim head coach Dave Butcher now being in charge, the players have been working with new assistant coaches Chris Laidlaw, Tom Luke and Robbie Fergusson.
“Tom is an out-and-out attack coach so he’s going to take everything in attack,” Butcher stated when asked about his new-look coaching set up.
“Chris has been working as a defence coach for Harlequins for the last two-and-a-bit years so he’s going to focus on that side of things.
“And Robbie is coming in to support around skill development and his role will include some of the rehabilitation work that we do with the LTIs [long term injuries] and how we bring those players back into the group when they are ready.
“He’s a great skills guy and he’s going to really go after the contact area as well. That’s going to be one of his key remits because that’s going to play so heavily into how we want to play. Obviously, that links into Tom and Chris’ remits as well.
“And I’m going to continue with the set piece. The players were really happy with that dynamic during the Six Nations and were keen that I stayed on as the set piece coach.”
In terms of getting the trio of assistants on board at short notice in recent weeks, Butcher explains how the process worked.
“Andy [Rhys Jones, head of women’s performance and pathway at Scottish Rugby] spearheaded that and getting them in place because what we didn’t want to do was get caught short,” Butcher said.
“What I think we’ve done a really good job of is being collaborative between myself, Andy and Ellen [Dickson, the team manager] as a little group.
“I think the biggest thing that we’ve gone after when appointing assistants for the upcoming matches are: are the good people? are the good coaches? can they contribute immediately at this time?
“And we think that there’s three guys coming in who fit that mould and can do that.
“I think they are young coaches who are aspirational, but coaches who have already got in a massive amount of experience while Chris and Robbie have also got experience of the rugby landscape in Scotland,
“When we went after Tom we actually asked a lot of the players that he works with at Bristol what they thought of him. We got glowing responses from them, not only as a rugby coach – because he’s obviously been embedded in that top level rugby for a long time – but also as a good bloke.
“I’m really excited about them coming on board. I think that they’ll bring a lot of energy to things.”
It is a return to Scotland for Laidlaw who previously served as head coach of Glasgow Warriors women and as assistant coach with the women’s national team during the 2023 Women’s Six Nations.
Laidlaw will initially join on secondment from Harlequins before returning to the London club and later joining Scotland’s coaching staff on a permanent basis.
Luke joins Scotland from English club Bristol Bears on secondment for the WXV Global Series.
Fergusson, the former Scotland Sevens and GB Sevens player who went to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. previously played for Glasgow Warriors men and is now their women’s head coach as well as helping out with Scotland.
The upcoming home Vodafone Scotland WXV Series campaign – part of the wider WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric featuring the top sides in the world – begins for Scotland against the 2025 Rugby World Cup runners-up Canada on September 12 at Hive Stadium before welcoming New Zealand to these shores the following weekend on September 19 and then hosting Australia on September 26.
Scotland’s away WXV Global Series fixtures will take place against Australia on October 17 and October 23.
The new-look coaching set up are pictured – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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