Leia Brebner-Holden was born in England and spent much of her youth in Abu Dhabi, but with a mother who hails from Brora she is as Scottish as they come and the scrum-half cannot wait for Saturday’s Women’s Six Nations game with England.
A record crowd of over 25,000 is set to descend on Murrayfield for the round two clash and although world number one side England are heavy favourites, Scotland head into the game with confidence after an away win against Wales last time out.
And someone who has really grown in confidence in recent times is Loughborough Lightning’s Brebner-Holden and the 23-year-old now has 16 caps under her belt and is the first choice nine after Caity Mattinson retired post-Rugby World Cup.
Born in Somerset, Brebner-Holden began playing rugby as a youngster in Abu Dhabi in the UAE where she was living with her family.
“My dad was coaching at the Al Ain Amblers club and my sister was already playing there, so from about the age of five I was down there playing too and rugby soon became a big part of my life,” she explained.
“With a Scottish mum I always knew of my roots up here and she took me up to Brora to visit a few years ago and when I was growing up my grandparents were based in Perth so we spent a lot of time there back in the day too.
“I used to go to Murrayfield with my mum, dad and sister when I was younger. The two games I remember most were Scotland versus Italy and Scotland versus New Zealand. We were way, way up at the top of the stand looking down so I had a nice bird’s-eye view of the pitch.
“Those were absolutely incredible experiences and atmospheres and to now think that I’ll be out there on that pitch this weekend is super exciting.
“I never thought this chance would come so to now be on the other end of that and being stood on the pitch looking up at the crowd is definitely going to be a shift in perspective.
“It’s not something that I could have predicted, but it is something I couldn’t be more excited about it, it is super exciting.
“This game and occasion is not just a massive opportunity for us as a team, it’s a massive for women’s sport.
“There’s a lot of games in big stadiums happening this Six Nations and that’s where we want to be moving forward.
“This game is against England, they’re the best in the world at the moment, but all of the pressure is on them. We’re going to have a big home crowd cheering us on and it’s up to us to ‘go after’ the game and perform as well as we can.”
The Scotland matchday 23 for the big game will be named at lunchtime on Thursday.
- It has been confirmed that Edinburgh Rugby head coach Claire Cruikshank is part of the Scottish Rugby coaching set up for the Six Nations campaign. Her role is skills coach.
- Over 25,000 tickets have been sold for Scotland-England, join in the fun by getting tickets here – before the senior game at 1.30pm at Murrayfield the under-21 sides from both countries are meeting at Hive Stadium at 11am.
Leia Brebner-Holden is pictured in action versus Wales – thanks to Scottish Rugby
The Women’s Six Nations is here and the 2026 event runs from April 11 to May 17 and, between April 6 and May 20, GH Media will be covering Scotland’s campaign and the wider tournament – keep an eye out for content and thanks to everyone who supports GH Media’s work within women’s rugby