The Scotland women’s national team are preparing to start their season versus Wales at Hive Stadium, but before that, the Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership gets underway.
In tomorrow's opening round of matches, last season’s champions Stirling County head to Heriot’s, last season’s runners-up Watsonians are at home to Cartha Queens Park, Hillhead Jordanhill and Stewartry will meet at West of Scotland’s Burnbrae and Corstorphine are in Inverurie to take on Garioch.
Off the back of eight wins in their last 11 Tests from the national team, the under-20s programme growing and the Celtic Challenge now involving Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors, women’s rugby in Scotland has never been as popular or had more eyes on it.
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The Premiership is an exciting competition because the eight-team regular season comprises 14 fixtures for each side between now and the end of November. After that, the top two play in a final and the bottom side has to go into a round-robin set up with regional league winners to try and stay in the top flight.
Every game matters as a result of the short, sharp nature of things, so here are 10 talking points ahead of the Women’s Premiership season…
County aiming for a hat-trick
Stirling County finished in second place in the regular season table last term, 11 points behind Watsonians, and were 19-0 down in the final at Myreside before fighting back to win 26-19 and take the title.
That backed up their title winning triumph from the previous year and under head coach Mark Ainsworth this squad has got used to winning.
With that comes pressure with others looking to knock you off your perch so it will be interesting to see how they deal with that as they aim for a third Premiership title in a row.
Players like new captain Ciorstaidh Ainsworth and back-row Samaanther Taganekurukuru are ones to watch.
Watsonians will be determined
Watsonians won the Sarah Beaney Cup at the end of last season with a polished performance in the final against Hillhead Jordanhill, but there is no doubt that they wanted the double.
During the Premiership campaign they were unstoppable, collecting 66 points out of a possible 70 in the regular season and then building up the aforementioned lead in the final until everything was turned on its head.
County winning the title at Myreside on their home turf hurt Watsonians and you get the feeling they think they have unfinished business to be getting on with.
Briar McNamara and Ailie Tucker will lead from the front.
Hills could Roma free
Hilllhead Jordanhill finished third in the regular season table last term and reached the Sarah Beaney Cup final and you get the feeling they will be even stronger this term.
One of the reasons for that is that back three player Roma Fraser, who showed her talents with Glasgow Warriors in the Celtic Challenge a few months ago, is one of the best finishers in the league and if the forwards can get enough ball to her and others such as Carla McDonald then they could be a threat on their day.
They will be searching for consistency in performance and new skipper Kate Yeomans has big boots to fill to replace the retired Hannah Telling.
Lucy and Lisa shrewd pick-ups by Corstorphine
Corstorphine have brought in a number of exciting young players who are stepping up to senior rugby from various places for the first time and it will be intriguing to see how they get on.
However, their two most important new faces could well be Scotland caps Lucy Winter and Lisa Martin.
Winter is a combative and athletic back-row who played well for Watsonians and Glasgow last term while Martin, the former Scotland captain, has moved from Heriot’s and is a clever tactician at 10 or 12.
If they can make Union Park a bit of a fortress it could be a good season for Corstorphine.
Chance for new faces to step up for Heriot’s
There has been quite a bit of movement at Goldenacre over the summer with Carl McWilliam coming in as the new head coach and senior players such as the aforementioned Lisa Martin moving on along with Caitlin Sedgeworth and Giselle Chicot and ex-Scotland cap Annabel Sergeant retiring.
That will give opportunities to others to step up and take games by the scruff of the neck though while former internationalist Megan Gaffney is now director of women’s rugby at the club and it will be exciting to see what she does in that role.
A great atmosphere at Dumbreck
For Cartha Queens Park, Garioch and Stewartry it is always going to be tricky to break into the top five, but Cartha finished sixth last term and seem to be building all the time.
They have had great numbers down at pre-season training and the fact that they have a second team playing in West Region League Two means that a large number of players are being exposed to a decent level of rugby each week.
Whenever you chat to head coach Ally Hunter he always exudes positivity and there seems to be a strong work ethic and culture at the club.
Hyland could help Garioch hit heights
Garioch produced ‘a great escape’ last year to win their final few regular season Premiership matches to finish seventh and make sure they were safe in the top flight for another campaign.
The Inverurie club takes a lot of pride in their women’s and girls’ section and that is being shown by someone like Megan Riach stepping up from the under-18s this term.
Scotland under-20 player Megan Hyland is certainly one to watch this season after the back-row, who is also learning to play hooker, impressed over the summer with the age-grade side.
She is now Garioch vice-captain and will not take a backwards step.
Clare will keep women’s rugby at the forefront at Stewartry
Recently we featured Clare Dooley who has become the first female president in Stewartry’s history.
Over the years she has also played a key part in the growth of women’s and girls’ rugby at the Greenlaw club and although the team may be in for some tough times in the Premiership Dooley and new head coach John Dawson are both positive characters who will keep driving things forward.
Young players will also get their chance to step up and experience this level of rugby and that is what it is all about.
Celtic Challenge places up for grabs
The Celtic Challenge featuring Edinburgh, Glasgow and Welsh and Irish teams is expanding for 2024-25 and, as a result, players in the Premiership will be looking to catch the eyes of the coaches from those teams.
Every club player who made the step up to that level last year loved it and no doubt their club team mates will want a piece of it now.
With opportunities available to train in a high level environment and play at Hive Stadium and Scotstoun if you do well in the Premiership then that is only going to make this year’s Premiership more exciting and it really will be fascinating to see which players put their hands up.
Stewart and Philipps show the way
Alex Stewart played for Corstorphine in the last version of the Premiership and soon the young back-row was starring for Edinburgh and then the full national team in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
Centre Rachel Philipps was one of the star players in the Premiership in 2023-24 with Watsonians and, since then, she has joined PWR English top flight-side Sale Sharks and been called up as a ‘day trainer’ with Scotland to gain experience.
That shows that the Premiership is full of talent coming through and other players will look at that and say ‘I want that to be me' this season.
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