Given that she sat on the bench for the full Scotland squad aged just 18, it is clear the talent and potential that Nicole Flynn has.
Injuries have made the last year or so a bit ‘stop start’ for the back three player/centre, but now 19 and fully fit she is excitde to be part of Scotland under-20s leadership group at the Six Nations Women’s Summer Series in Wales.
The young Scots are in Ystrad Mynach for matches at the Centre for Sporting Excellence facility versus England on July 5 (6pm), the hosts on July 11 (6pm) and Ireland on July 17 (1pm).
Flynn, now of Edinburgh University and Glasgow Warriors, starts at full-back against England and will act as vice-captain to skipper Merryn Gunderson with Poppy Fletcher and Emily Norval also in the leadership group.
“It’s been a really exciting few weeks getting ready for this tournament,” Flynn told Scottish Rugby.
“We are quite a new group with players coming together from all different backgrounds, but also quite a lot of us have trained together with club teams and in Celtic Challenge and that sort of thing.
“It has been really good getting to know new head coach Daggy [Louise Dalgliesh], she is really fun and wants us to play the way that we like to play. She wants us to look up and play into the spaces that are there.
“As a new leadership group we are working really well together, we are really good friends and we listen to each other.
“Seeing players from last year’s squad having gone on to get full caps makes us realise that what we are working towards is possible and, hopefully, players from the current squad can get to that level one day.
“England are up first and they are always the big name, always the team that Scotland want to beat. They will be big and fast, but so are we and we just need to play our own game and then build into the rest of the tournament.”
Flynn only took up the sport aged 15 at Stirling County, but has made great strides and represented the Scottish Futures in Italy in the summer of 2023, helped her club win the Premiership and played for Edinburgh Rugby in the Celtic Challenge of 2023/24 and then was with Scotland under-20 at the inaugural Summer Series back in Italy again 12 months ago.
In Parma, she scored a try in the opening match, but sustained an ankle injury and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
That trip came off the back of being an unused sub for Scotland versus France in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations at Hive Stadium in March 2024.
As mentioned, 2024/25 was a bit ‘stop start’ for Flynn, but she made her Glasgow bow in late February and wants to kick on now.
Scotland supporters will be able to follow every moment of the action from the Summer Series as all matches will be streamed live on the Six Nations under-20 YouTube channel and the Scottish Rugby website.
Scotland under-20 squad for the England game
Nicole Flynn (V-C); Emily Norval, Holly McIntyre, Lucy MacRae, Lisa Brown; Ceitidh Ainsworth, Rianna Darroch; Poppy Fletcher, Aicha Sutcliffe, Eilidh Fleming, Charlotte Russell, Aisha Zameer, Lily Crisp, Isobel Twigger, Merryn Gunderson (C). Subs: Megan Hyland, Kaylee McHugh, Faye Sutherland, Holly Wilson, Gemma Thomson, Rebekah Douglas, Poppy Mellanby, Freya MacColl.
Scotland’s under-20 squad for the Six Nations Women’s Summer Series
Forwards: Emily Coubrough, Karis Craig, Lily Crisp, Eilidh Fleming, Poppy Fletcher, Merryn Gunderson, Megan Hyland, Kaylee McHugh, Sophie Price, Megan Riach, Charlotte Russell, Aicha Sutcliffe, Faye Sutherland, Louise Taperell, Gemma Thomson, Isobel Twigger, Holly Wilson, Aisha Zameer.
Backs: Ceitidh Ainsworth, Lisa Brown, Rianna Darroch, Rebekah Douglas, Nicole Flynn, Scarlett Haddow, Emily Love, Freya MacColl, Lucy MacRae, Holly McIntyre, Poppy Mellanby, Emily Norval.
Tickets for Scotland-England at Murrayfield in April 2026 can be purchased here.
Emily Norval is pictured during a recent interview – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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