When Lyndsay O’Donnell ran out onto the pitch versus Wales for what turned out to be her last home match for Scotland in April 2023 she had squad mates called Leah, Lana, Christine, Louise and 18 others around her for company.
Fast forward 17 months and she has a completely different ‘squad’ in her life day-to-day comprising of husband Dave whom she married in July last year, daughter Daisy who was born in May and dogs Louie and Alba.
“Yes, life is a bit different now,” Lyndsay, the 31-year-old whose married name is Whiting, laughed.
“However, I would not have it any other way, I loved my rugby career and now I am loving my new life and Daisy, Louie and Alba certainly keep us busy.
“You hear a lot of sportspeople say when they finish up that they miss the structure that being involved in their sport gave them as you always have a training session or a match to build up to.
“I can certainly relate to that and you also miss being with the girls in camp or with your club mates and seeing them all of the time, but I have a new structure now and certainly the days are never dull.
“I have also managed to catch up with friends out with rugby who I struggled to see during my career which has been really nice. I am not without my rugby fix as Dave plays so Daisy and I will be cheering him on. I was also able to get up to Oriam and see all the Scotland girls recently during their pre-season block.
“Daisy came with me and I think she now has 30 plus new Scottish aunties, she got plenty of attention!”
When O’Donnell called time on her stellar 20-cap Scotland career in February of this year she looked back with no regrets.
Having taken the game up via local clubs Alloa and Stirling County in her teens then, while involved with Scotland age-grade sides, moved to Worcester in 2011 and she would go on to have a long connection with that club and still lives in the surrounding area.
The year 2013 was a big one for O’Donnell because she earned her first Scotland cap away to France in Dijon in the Six Nations.
Her national team career, which had a gap in between, also ended in France when she played in the Six Nations match in Vannes in 2023 and there were plenty of highlights along the way.
“When I first came into the Scotland set up for that France game in 2013 I was picked on the wing and that was a big test for me, but I was so proud to be pulling on the international shirt and being out there,” the player, who spent over a decade at Worcester apart from one loan spell at Bristol Bears, explained.
“The first few games was quite a steep learning curve, but then I think back to 2017 when we beat Wales and then Italy in the Six Nations and it was such a great feeling.
“Scotland had not won a Six Nations game since 2010 before the Welsh one so we were all so happy at the full-time whistle and we were all jumping about at Broadwood and then had some great celebrations afterwards!
By that stage in 2017, O’Donnell, a qualified physio who is also working for Utility Warehouse currently, was playing in the back-row and, post-pandemic, we would see her in dark blue again as a second-row.
“I was then out of the international picture for a stage, but having been part of failed Rugby World Cup bids previously I was determined to give it my all to make the squad for the 2021 event,” she stated.
“In the end because of the pandemic it was played in 2022 and I managed to get back into the squad for the final qualifier versus Colombia early in that year.
“Sadly, my room mate had Covid while we were in Dubia so I was confined to my room, but the girls did the job and then I had to try and make sure I was on the plane to New Zealand.
“It was an amazing experience being at such a big tournament. I came off the bench in our game against New Zealand and to face the Haka and take that all in was a brilliant memory.”
Now O’Donnell is making new memories with Dave, Daisy and the dogs and during the upcoming Vodafone Series an WXV 2 she can sit back and watch her friends playing knowing that cap number 168 did a great job for Scotland over the years.
Friday’s Vodafone Series match between Scotland and Wales at Hive Stadium is kicking off at 7.35pm and has been confirmed as being shown on BBC ALBA and BBC iPlayer.
Scotland women’s matchday squad for the Vodafone Series clash with Wales (uncapped players in bold)
15 Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders) (65)
14 Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers) (12)
13 Emma Orr (Bristol Bears) (19)
12 Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears) (17)
11 Coreen Grant (Saracens) (11)
10 Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning, V-C) (60)
9 Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs) (23)
1 Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers) (35)
2 Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears) (69)
3 Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning) (35)
4 Fi McIntosh (Saracens) (2)
5. Sarah Bonar (Harlequins) (37)
6 Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning, C) (47)
7 Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars) (5)
8. Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears) (27)
Subs
16 Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning) (10)
17 Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning) (10)
18 Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears) (11)
19 Louise McMillan (Saracens) (53)
20 Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers) (11)
21 Jade Konkel (Harlequins) (62)
22 Leia Brebner-Holden (Gloucester-Hartpury/Cheltenham Tigers) (uncapped)
23 Lucia Scott (Gloucester-Hartpury/Hartpury University) (uncapped)
Thanks to Lyndsay O’Donnell for the photos from her career
GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk