Katie Dougan says that “facing the Black Ferns haka was just surreal” and that playing the hosts at the 2021 Rugby World Cup played in 2022 in Whangarei was a “bucket list” moment.
Tighthead prop Dougan came off the bench in the second half in the pool match in New Zealand as the hosts won 57-0. They went onto win the tournament by beating England in the final while Scotland did not get out of the group, but they still created some great memories playing at the showpiece event for the first time since 2010.
For Scotland cap 190 Katie, who is now 31, the New Zealand game nearly four years ago was the last of 19 caps she earned for her country having made a debut against Italy in 2015.
With Scotland welcoming the Black Ferns to Edinburgh and Hive Stadium for the first ever time this Saturday in WXV Global Series action (5.10pm, live on BBC ALBA and BBC iPlayer), Katie has been looking back on the last meeting between the sides.
“The whole World Cup experience was incredible,” she said.
New Zealand had always been a bucket list place to visit for me and a bucket list oplace to play rugby in so to be there playing rugby in a World Cup was pretty mental!
“The feeling of standing on the pitch facing the Black Fern’s haka before our last pool game was just surreal, like I couldn’t quite work out how was I playing rugby against New Zealand in New Zealand at a World Cup.
“I knew coming off the bench in that one that it would be the last time I played for Scotland and so I just felt a lot of gratitude that it was the way I was getting to finish.
“I do remember the first scrum I was in when I came on in that game and being shocked at just how big and powerful their pack was, but we fought right until the final whistle as Scotland always do.
“I ended up on 19 caps with my last one being that final pool game against New Zealand after it had all started at home to Italy in 2015.
“The couple of standout moments for me in a dark blue jersey are that game against Wales in 2017 which was our first Six Nations win in seven years and the game against Ireland in Italy in late 2021 when we qualified for a final World Cup qualifier with Colombia.
“The highs that comes from those kinds of moments is unbeatable. The whole month in New Zealand at the World Cup is right up there too in my highlights. I’ve got so many wonderful off pitch memories with the squad from that trip.
“I was actually pretty burnt out after the World Cup, we’d had such an intense couple of years with training through the pandemic and qualifiers being postponed multiple times so it took me a while to want to play again.
“But I ended up playing half a season for Wasps in their final season in the English top flight as they were needing a prop. Those few months with Wasps are actually some of the most special of my career, but after that I retired and I have no regrets.”
Katie grew up in Fort William in the Highlands and she first picked up a ball and trained with Lochaber RFC when she was 11 or 12.
“I think my first game was for the Northern Vixens, a team made up of all the girls in the North of Scotland who didn’t have enough girls in their local teams to play games,” she recounts.
“I only played rugby for a year or so when I was at school at that time, but I really loved just running around and getting muddy!
“I love the camaraderie associated with team sports so rugby was right up there. Fast forward a bit and I played shinty in my first year of university too, but rugby won out as I really enjoyed the technical aspects of the sport and front-row play.
“When I started university I was playing two games a week most weeks on a Wednesday for Edinburgh University and then on a Sunday for Corstorphine Cougars.
“I loved it and felt like I was improving with every game and training session, getting chucked in the deep end really seemed to work for me.
“Our coaches at the uni had all played for Scotland women and a lot of the women I played with at Cougars also had. I was learning so much so quickly and I was loving it.
“I was being coached at uni by Sarah Quick and Claire Cruickshank and then playing at Cougars alongside players like Alison Macdonald, Lee Cockburn and Louise Dalgliesh. Being surrounded by players of their calibre was a little intimidating, but also inspiring.
“I went to trials and got selected for the Scotland under-20s at the start of 2015 and after our second game I got called up to the senior squad to make my debut the next weekend in March 2015 at Broadwood Stadium during the Six Nations.
“Nowadays post-rugby, I am currently living in Glasgow and working as an ecologist which keeps me pretty busy travelling around the country for surveys.
“I’ve actually ended up going back to playing shinty for the last two seasons which has been great fun and I’ve also been getting more into cycling.
“I’ve done a few events this year and am currently training for a 24 hour one called ‘Strathpuffer 24’ in January that I’ve, maybe foolishly, signed up for with a friend!”
Next up in the Vodafone Scotland WXV Series campaign – part of the wider WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric featuring the top sides in the world – is New Zealand this coming Saturday and then Scotland are hosting Australia on September 26, both at the Hive.
Scotland’s away WXV Global Series fixtures will take place against Australia on October 17 and October 23.
Katie Dougan is 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