If you have been down to Stirling County’s Bridgehaugh ground over the last however many you will likely have seen a member of the Logan clan play or at least met one on the sidelines – and right now it is Natasha Logan’s time to shine.
The second-row recently turned 21 and has a very bright future in the game having started her rugby journey at County when she was growing up.
Fast forward to season 2024-25 and she is one of the senior players in the University of Edinburgh squad that is competing in the new-look BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Women’s Super Rugby competition.
Indeed she is president of the EULRFC club while she was recently part of the wider Scotland squad for their four week pre-season training block and is one of a number of young uncapped talents just ready and waiting for their chance with the national team.
The opportunity to train with Scotland, which first came around during the Guinness Women’s Six Nations period earlier in the year, presented itself thanks to consistent performances for Edinburgh Rugby in last season’s Celtic Challenge.
That competition is set to be even bigger and better this term and Logan will hope to play a big part again.
For now her focus is on university rugby though and, last Friday, Edinburgh took a four try bonus from a hard fought 36-24 opening loss to Hartpury played at Hive Stadium in the capital.
“It is really exciting to be playing in the revamped BUCS league because games are going to be streamed and there is more marketing behind the league than before so that will give more players a chance to be seen by a wider audience,” she said about the tournament that includes Cardiff, Cardiff Met, Durham, Exeter and Loughborough alongside her own team and Hartpury.
“Each fixture will also have a team of three officials appointed to it which is new and I think the standard and the profile of the competition is just going to grow and grow.
“There is a good standard of rugby in this top flight of student rugby and a number of the teams involved train within performance programmes.
“Certainly at Edinburgh we have access to great coaching, great facilities and we all really put the work in. It is far more than just a hobby to us and that is shown by the fact that so many former and current students are playing for Scotland, the under-20s, in the Celtic Challenge and such like.”
The University of Edinburgh are being led this year by winger Hannah Walker with support from vice-captains Poppy Fletcher and Rhea Clarke who are a loosehead prop and scrum-half respectively. They will all have help from Logan too and all of them were part of the Scotland under-20s squad that was in Italy in the summer.
“I was one of the overage players in the squad and off the back of playing regularly for Edinburgh Rugby in the lead up to that tournament and having been in the Scotland camp during the Six Nations I tried to take more of a leadership role out in Italy,” Logan, who is just starting her fourth year of a business and marketing degree at university and has been mentored by Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm as part of the EmpowHER scheme, explained.
“My work and detail at lineout time is especially something that I pride myself on so I just tried to lead by example and help the younger players out. We had mixed results, but the trip showed that the talent pool in Scottish women’s rugby is growing all of the time.
“We have already seen Leia Brebner-Holden and Lucia Scott being capped for the full Scotland team since that trip while Aila Ronald has also been selected for the WXV 2 tournament.
“It shows the rest of us young players that we are not a million miles away and, personally, I know I just need to keep working hard on my game and adding parts to it when I can.
“I have loved rugby ever since I can remember, it has always been in my family and playing up through the age groups at County was great because you were playing with your friends and the club took girls rugby seriously from an early stage.
“I love rugby now just as much as I ever have and having had a taste of training with Scotland on a number of occasions now the next aim is to earn that first cap.
“The team are playing so well just now and there are a lot of good players in my position, but I am still young and I feel like everything I have learnt, especially in different environments over the last 12 months, has put me in a good place moving forward.”
The University of Edinburgh’s next match in the BUCS Super Rugby competition is due to be away to Cardiff Met in late September.
Thanks to N50 Photography for the images of Natasha Logan playing for the University of Edinburgh and training with Scotland
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