Neve Murray burst onto the Scottish rugby scene in December 2023 when she scored a brilliant solo try for Biggar girls’ under-16s as they defeated Stirling County in a National Youth Cup final at Hive Stadium.
Fast forward nearly three years and the 17-year-old back three player is still eligible to play under-18 rugby, but has been promoted to the Biggar senior first team such is her talent.
A number of years – including three youth finals at Hive and Murrayfield – in the Biggar youth set up plus two trips this year with the Scotland under-18s have prepared her for the step up.
And she has taken that step up well so far, scoring a hat-trick of tries against Heriot’s on her senior Biggar debut versus at Goldenacre and then two tries in game number two versus Corstorphine Cougars at Union Park.
Biggar won both of those Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership games and, heading into round three of fixtures in the league on Saturday, have 10 points out of 10.
After seven games the league splits into the top four and bottom four and, with aspirations to get into the top four in just their second season in the top flight, Biggar will want to keep their good form going at home to winless Cartha Queens Park this weekend.
“I am looking forward to my first senior team game at home at Hartree Mill,” Neve, who is in her final year at Carluke High School, said.
“After the trip to the Netherlands with the Scotland under-18s in the summer, the head coach from that programme Scott Riddell was keen for me to ‘play up’ and get experience with the Biggar senior team.
“Obviously there has been a lot to learn, but I have really enjoyed playing full-back for Biggar in the Premiership so far and will be playing on the wing this weekend.
“It is more physical than the youth rugby I have been used to and you have to make decisions in attack and defence just that bit quicker, but my more experienced team mates have helped me settle in well while scoring tries has given me confidence that I can play at this level regularly.
“I think it really helps that Biggar is such a community club and that pretty much everyone knows everyone. That has made the transition easier and I am just really enjoying my rugby at the minute.”
Neve grew up in Carluke and started playing rugby at Biggar at age 13 after she went along with her dad to collect her brother from training one day.
She saw the girls training and instantly wanted to play and the rest, as they say, is history.
After a couple of weeks of training she played her first game in a tournament at Cartha. Soon after she joined the school of rugby at her high school and was coached by Callum Taylor and Callum McCallum.
She also competed in sprint races at Scottish Athletics age group meets, but that fell away after she found a real passion for rugby and the latter sport began to take up more of her time.
Highlights so far in her rugby career have included winning two out of three National Youth Cup finals at Hive or Murrayfield and scoring tries in them all.
Another highlight was playing in the under-18 Six Nations earlier this year, especially intercepting a Wales pass and scoring a try.
At the time the commentators called her ‘the flying full-back’ and that’s a nickname that’s stuck with a lot of her friends!
“The under-18 Summer Series recently was also incredible, we beat hosts the Netherlands and Wales and I scored two tries in the tournament and assisted with some others,” Neve stated.
“The squad really gelled in those games.
“I love playing at Biggar and I am inspired by the talent the club has recently produced such as Emma Orr in the women’s game and Fergus Watson in the men’s game. There are so many great role models to look up to and learn from at the club.
“As well as playing at the club, I often get involved in coaching younger kids at Biggar during the holidays and it is great to see them enjoying the game.
“My hopes for the season are to continue developing and improving my game, be part of a great team at Biggar and hopefully earn further Scotland age-grade recognition.”
The Premiership’s weekend fixtures are here.
Neve Murray 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