Scotland were not happy with their Women’s Six Nations showing earlier in the year and “took a step back” from the performance levels we had seen at the 2025 Rugby World Cup.
But now they are ready to show people what they are really about when the WXV Global Series gets underway, says experienced winger Rhona Lloyd.
Given that they have a tough schedule of matches coming up during September and October versus Canada, New Zealand and then Australia three times off the back of a frustrating one-win Six Nations and the fact that they have an interim head coach in post, you might think that the Scots would be daunted about what is to come.
However, the noises coming out of the camp in recent weeks have all been positive ahead of the WXV opener against third in the world Canada next Saturday at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh.
Lloyd, the 66-times capped Sale Sharks winger who has scored 30 tries for her country, said: “You want to play against the best teams in the world which we get to do every Six Nations with England and France, but often in the past at this time of year we haven’t had that exposure.
“But now our autumn period is starting against World Cup 2025 finalists Canada and number two in the world side New Zealand back-to-back to get our WXV challenge going and that’s going to be massive.
“We want to see where we are by challenging ourselves and getting exposure against high level teams.
“I think reflecting on the Six Nations obviously we weren’t happy as a team in terms of the way things went and our performances.
“We were definitely challenged with a lot of injuries and some extenuating circumstances that added challenges there, but I think at the World Cup [when they made the last eight in England] it definitely felt like we pushed Scotland forward and we maybe took a step back during the Six Nations.
“Now, over the next couple of months, we’re determined to show that we’re back moving in the right direction.
“I think the attention to detail that’s been driven by the new-look coaching group [interim head coach Dave Butcher and assistants Chris Laidlaw, Tom Luke and Robbie Fergusson] in our training sessions so far has been huge and what’s really been shown by the player group is just how much we are enjoying things at the minute.
“We’ve got some players coming back from injury as well so that’s really helping to drive standards to the levels they need to be ahead of a busy time of fixtures.
“I think it’s a really exciting time to be part of the Scotland women’s team.”
As mentioned, the upcoming home Vodafone Scotland WXV Series campaign – part of the wider WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric featuring the top sides in the world – begins for Scotland against Canada on September 12 at Hive Stadium before welcoming New Zealand to these shores the following weekend on September 19 and then hosting Australia on September 26.
Scotland’s away WXV Global Series fixtures will take place against Australia on October 17 and October 23.
- Becky Boyd has replaced the injured Lucia Scott in the Scotland training squad.
- New Zealand beat South Africa away 52-20 on Saturday in the final Test match pre-WXV Global Series action gets going.
- Rhona Lloyd, Rugby Ambassador for Royal London and award judge, was speaking after Caithness Rugby Football Club was named the Scottish winner of the 2026 Championing Women and Girls’ Rugby Award presented by Royal London and The British and Irish Lions
- The £10,000 funding will support the club’s ambitions to continue to grow its women’s and girls’ offering to ensure that rugby is accessible to as many people as possible in the Scottish Highlands
Rhona Lloyd is 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