Flo Laing says she is “very proud” of Emma Wassell.
Scotland women’s lead clinical physiotherapist Laing worked day in and day out with Wassell to get her back on the pitch in time for last year’s Rugby World Cup in England after a rollercoaster 2024.
On Thursday evening, Laing, Wassell, the latter’s international team mates and others who have played a part in her journey in recent times gathered at the Everyman Cinema in Edinburgh to watch the first ever screening of the documentary ‘Emma Wassell: Laoch’.
The film, made by Scottish Rugby in collaboration with Vodafone, follows Wassell, the 31-year-old second-row from Newburgh near Aberdeen with 72 international caps to her name, after the discovery of a tumour in her chest in August 2024 which required major surgery while she was also grappling with the sudden loss of her mother Pauline a few months earlier.
Laing said: “I’m very proud of the film and I’m very proud of Emma.
“It was an amazing thing to watch and it just kind of brings everything together and really shows the journey that she’s been on.
“She is just so powerful. There are so many girls with different types of stories where they’ve overcome injury, but then you see what Emma’s done and it’s another level.
“I really think it’s super powerful to see how the girls in the Scotland squad came together during the period to support Emma.
“And that’s quite evident throughout the whole film, just how united they all are.
“The bond was always strong, but since everything that has happened it has got even stronger and I think it is the group’s superpower. I think there’s always been that bond within the group, but it just came to the forefront in this scenario.
“As you will see from the footage there was a rotation of people by Emma’s bedside, but the people probably that don’t get the same credit are the people that were supporting the people by the bedside and then the people that were supporting those people and so on.
“And that really was the case because it was amazing to see how everyone just literally came together.
“Professionally it was an amazing opportunity for me to work with Emma through her rehab and it was really special actually, everyone was so generous with their time to help me work out the best course of action. I was very lucky and Emma was a star.”
Scotland-England ticket holders for the match on April 18 got early access to the documentary via a password-protected webpage on Saturday while everyone else will be able to see ‘Emma Wassell: Laoch’ on Scottish Rugby’s official YouTube channel from 7pm today (Sunday).
Wassell and Scotland are currently preparing for the Women’s Six Nations with their opener versus Wales in Cardiff coming up next Saturday.
Flo Laing, second from the right as we look, is pictured at the premiere alongside Rhona Lloyd, Emma Wassell and Rachel Malcolm – thanks to Scottish Rugby/Kirsty MacLachlan
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