Since late 2024 the Blairgowrie women’s rugby squad has grown and grown and heading into the 2026/27 season there are 25 players involved.
As a result of the rise in popularity in the female game at JJ Coupar Park, during the new campaign the Blairgowrie players who are old enough to play senior rugby will be teaming up with their friends from Aberfeldy to play in Scottish Rugby’s Aspiring competition while the joint team is set to appear in the National Bowl as well.
The club are also looking to set up some Touch rugby matches for those not wanting to play full contact games and also want to keep building up their player base in the teenage age range.
After a first attempt at a women’s section at Blairgowrie in 2019/20 was stunted by the pandemic, in the winter of 2024 Andy McOuat and Johnny MacColl set about reviving it and getting it going again.
Then there were around six ladies involved whereas now they have 25 members keen to take part ranging from 12 to 53 in age.
McOuat, MacColl, Kevin Brown and Paula Watson help coach the group and Adam Baxendine, the team manager who is also a trainee coach, said: “Things really are growing nicely, it’s exciting to see.
“Our most experienced player is our captain/coach Paula Watson, she is the wife of the men’s senior team coach Campbell Watson, has been involved in the game for many years and is the one the everyone goes to for absolutely anything as she is very knowledgeable.
“And, at the other end of the scale, we have players who had literally never touched a rugby ball and knew very little about the game before coming along, but everyone is welcome to join in. Our youngest players are in senior one at the local high schools while, over and above the 25, we also have under-12 girls who are part of the Blairgowrie Rams Minis set up along with the boys.
“One of our original women’s players Rennie Guthrie-Dawber has progressed to playing with Stirling County and helped them win the Arnold Clark Premiership last season. Indeed, she has recently just won a bronze medal with the under-20 Scotland team at the European Touch Championships in Warwick down south.
“Last month a training session for the group was taken by Scotland under-21 cap and Loughborough player Freya MacColl and Keevy Fitzpatrick who is also a Lightning player and is an England age-grade cap.
“We will support everyone who comes along to achieve whatever they want. We have ladies that come along on a Tuesday and Thursday evening for the fitness element and to be part of a community of like-minded ladies to those that have ambitions to take the sport as far as they possibly can.
“As a club we pride ourselves as a being a strong welcoming community. The ladies train on a Tuesday and Thursday evening at the same time as the senior men and there is no division between them as they warm up together before going on to do their own sessions. The men have welcomed the ladies as they are energised by the ladies’ drive to train.
“The women’s section also have training sessions with the club’s men’s coaches at times and they bring different levels of experience and new things to the sessions. Dan Wilkie is the club’s S and C coach who provides gym sessions for all when the pitches are unplayable at times in the winter months, too.”
As things have cranked up, Baxendine has, along with others, spent a lot of time organising matches, finding tournaments for players to play in, sorting playing kit and finding sponsors.
Six local sponsors have come on board including long-time overall club supporters Blairgowrie Garage which has allowed the section to buy training and playing tops.
“The arrival of the ladies training and playing tops was a massive milestone, these have given the team a real identity within the community and they were designed by Mollie Brown and Evie McOuat,” Baxendine explained.
“Back in March the team hosted McLaren women’s team for a game of Touch rugby.
“For many of our players this was their first real experience of playing competitive rugby. It was a cold damp night under floodlights, but they were all buzzing and around 60 supporters came along to cheer them on.
“We then took a strong squad along to Hillfoots in May for their annual Touch tournament and entered two teams, Blair One captained by Evie McOuat wining the Shield after a strongly contested match against one of the Hillfoots team involved that included several of their men’s first team.
“The squad have also been to the Strathmore and Perthshire Touch tournaments and recently hosted Lochaber as part of the Blairgowrie Rugby and Ale Festival.”
Blairgowrie are pictured
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