Evie Gallagher is a “world class talent” who is good enough to start for the British and Irish Lions next year in the Test matches against New Zealand.
That is the view of Scotland assistant coach Tom Luke who has worked with the 26-year-old back-rower at Bristol Bears for a few years now.
In recent weeks he has also been working with her in Scotland camp and everyone north of the border was pleased to see her back in dark blue on Saturday after injury in the 64-26 WXV Global Series defeat to Canada at Hive Stadium.
The 43-capper scored one try, assisted another and was Scotland’s best player on the day.
Now the Scots are preparing to take on New Zealand this coming weekend in Edinburgh and, throwing things forward a year, Luke feels that Gallagher can have a big part to play on the inaugural women’s Lions tour to the southern hemisphere in 2027.
“I’m a bit biased because I have worked with Evie for a long time and I’ve been lucky enough to see her in [English top flight PWR] semi-finals and finals against the best players in the world and I think she is there – for me she’s the starting Lions seven,” Luke said.
“I think she’s that good, she can do everything on both sides of the ball and she’s a competitor.
She’s a world class talent. I think that is definitely the level she should be aspiring to play at and excelling at against the Black Ferns down there [for the Lions next year].”
Asked if centre Emma Orr, the 35-cap, 23-year-old who is currently out with a long-term ACL knee injury, is in the same world class category, Luke said: “One hundred percent.
I think there’s a few in that window [at 13 around the globe], obviously Meg Jones [England] and Flo Symonds [Canada] was a class apart at the weekend.
“But in that bracket of best 13s in the world, I think Emma sits in that bracket as well. The big work we did at Bristol with Emma and that I continue to do with her now, even when she’s not playing, is getting Emma to believe it herself.
“She’s the most humble person you could ever meet and I don’t think she realises quite how incredibly talented she is sometimes.
“When she shows it – and she did it for the Bears in her last game for the club against Harlequins at the Principality before she got injured in the Six Nations – that was probably the best version of her and that version of her should be playing for a team like the Lions I think.”
When Orr returns to fitness she will be playing for Edinburgh Rugby having relocated north and Luke has managed to meet up with her to do some skills work of late.
Luke is currently on secondment to Scotland from Bristol for the September and October WXV period and he has enjoyed linking up with interim head coach Dave Butcher, fellow assistants Chris Laidlaw and Robbie Fergusson and the players in recent weeks.
“It was extremely quick,” the attack coach stated about the opportunity with the Scots coming around.
“I was sat on a beach and I got a phone call asking if I’d be interested in the role which I said yes to pretty quickly. After that, it was about Bristol Bears doing the due diligence at their end to make sure that the team was covered.
“That was a priority for me as well because that’s been my home for the last five years and continues to be so after this campaign.
“I wanted to make sure they were in good order, but as soon as those things fell into place and the club were great with it, they got that sorted pretty quickly and I was booked on a flight up here.
“It’s been great.
“I don’t know if they [the Scottish Rugby hierarchy] did some secret personality profiling in the background, but the four of us as coaches get on extremely well.
“We work really hard, each person in their own individual role and we see that in each other and respect it. That’s a great basis for a working relationship.
“We’ve talked a lot already in this campaign about green shoots and we definitely saw some of those against Canada.
“You’re playing the number three side in the world who were World Cup finalists so it’s going to be tough.
“We didn’t expect any different, but some of the things that we’d been chasing in the lead up to it, we started to see on the field.
“There’s plenty of positives to move forward with.”
Next up in the Vodafone Scotland WXV Series campaign – part of the wider WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric featuring the top sides in the world – is New Zealand this coming Saturday and then Scotland are hosting Australia on September 26, both at the Hive.
Scotland’s away WXV Global Series fixtures will take place against Australia on October 17 and October 23.
Evie Gallagher, Emma Orr and Tom Luke 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