Key Scotland player Sarah Bonar is likely to miss the whole of the upcoming Women’s Six Nations competition with a back injury.
The news is just the latest in a long line of injury frustration for the 32-year-old Aberdonian second-row who plays for Harlequins in England’s top flight.
Over the years the 51-capper has missed large chunks of Scotland action due to injuries since her debut in 2016 and had to battle a foot and ankle injury suffered in training that required surgery to make it to last year’s Rugby World Cup in England.
She got to that showpiece event though and played right through to the quarter-final defeat to England, but she has missed most of the 2025/26 domestic PWR season since then and is not set to be back in time to play any part in the Six Nations which runs from April 11 to May 17.
There is a chance that fellow experienced player Lisa Thomson, the 75-cap centre from Trailfinders Women, may recover from a foot injury in time to play towards the end of the tournament, but Bonar looks to be out for the duration.
“Obviously with the surgeries that they had their rehab timelines at this stage very much put them at the back end of the tournament or potentially outside of that in terms of return to play,” Scotland head coach Sione Fukofuka said.
“At the moment Lisa Thompson potentially will be in a position to be available for selection at the end of the of the Six Nations tournament where, unfortunately for Sarah Bonar, her timelines put her outside of that window.
“In terms of the players that have been selected in our training squad that are coming off their injury returns, they’re on track to be available for selection through the tournament.
“We’re pretty excited to have the opportunity to bring some pretty experienced players back in around that and hopefully if Lisa keeps tracking the way that she is that we can have her availability at the back end.”
Australian Fukofuka this week selected 38 players – 31 core players and seven development ones – that will meet up for training from March 31 ahead of the event.
Sarah Bonar is pictured during the Fiji game at last year’s World Cup – thanks to N50 Photography
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