Women’s sport has never had a higher profile than it does right now, from the coverage of the football World Cup to the likes of Coco Gauff lighting up individual sports with their energy and, in rugby’s case ever more coverage of the game and its players domestically and internationally. I’ve been a rugby fan all my life but until 18 months or so ago I’d have struggled to name more than a couple of women in the game. Now though I’m hooked on teams and players who are every bit as professional and skilled as their male counterparts and I’m delighted to kick off this new site by interviewing an absolute favourite of mine!
Rhona Lloyd is a try scoring storm, racking up the pointsfor Scotland in both 7s and 15s, turning out for the always exciting LoughboroughLightning in the TyrrellsPremier 15s and stillmanaging to fit in her studies!
Pausing from some study time in theLoughborough University library, Rhona was effusive about Scotland’s groundbreaking trip to South Africa: “It was amazing! It was Scotland’s first tourwhich is pretty mad to think about and it’s the first time we’ve got two winsback to back in over 10 years!”
“For us now, the focus is on WorldCup qualification. To maximise our chances of getting there we have to climbthe rankings, South Africa were above us so to go out there and get two wins isfantastic. We’ve never played Southern Hemisphere teams before and it was acompletely different style of rugby. They were so physical, a lot stronger thanwe’d faced here.”
Lloyd was quick to point out thebenefits of being together with the team on tour too. “it wasn’t about changingour gameplan but it gave us a chance to gel and also to fine tune things andput them into action in a game, then look back on what had and hadn’t workedbefore playing the same team again 6 days later.”
“I got two tries in each game.Admittedly that was other people putting me away rather than having to do muchwork but I guess a successful winger knows to stand in the right place, whichI’m getting better at!”
“The first game we were dominant,we felt really in control and then in the second they definitely turned it upand came at us harder. There was a while in the game when we had been on thedefensive a lot and there were about 8 points in it.” Scotland went on to winthe game by an 18 point margin, which is impressive in itself and, coupled withthe 47-5 score line in the first game, will pay dividends in the future. “Inthe six nations, against the likes of England or Ireland we will be defending alot so we can get in the right mindset and know we have the principles inplace.”
Of course there are homeinternationals still to come this autumn, with Scotland facing off againstWales and Japan, the former are old rivals but the latter are an interestingcase, especially given the focus on the cherry blossoms as current World Cuphosts. “Japan have had a lot of investment and the fact they are coming over toplay against Scotland shows the value they put on the women’s game. Wales, thelast few times in the 6 Nations have ended up in games with less than a try init, but we’re ready for the challenge and it will be good to be back in Scotstoun!
Talk turns naturally to Rhona’stime representing Scotland so far which takes in the 7s circuit as well as the15s game. Her style of play, with hard running attacking lines, is clearlyinfluenced by the space and opportunity that having less people on the fieldbrings and means she has a gift for exploiting space. “I came back from areally long injury in January. I caught the end of the 15s season but I didn’tfeel that confident, but having the summer playing 7s… You get so much ball andbeing a winger with that much space really suits my strengths and my skills.It’s given me much more confidence coming back into 15s. In 7s you’re soexposed in terms of your skills and also your tackling. There’s a lot moreindividual responsibility!”
“For Scotland the 7s team isessentially the backline and flankers of the larger team too so it’s morechange for us to gel. We had 4 major tournaments and we were in Hong Kong for aweek”.
The theme of cohesion comes up timeand again in the conversation and it’s clearly something that adds a lot to anyteam. It can only help then that there are 4 more Scottish internationalslining up alongside Rhona for Loughborough Lightning. “It helps us beingtogether on the pitch, though the positions aren’t that related. When Loughboroughare finished but Scotland still need to train or over summer during the 7sseason we’re all following the same schedule so we can keep each othermotivated. We all know what the others should be doing so we can pull eachother up if we’re not doing it!”
It’sbeen a mixed start for Lightning, who won their first game but have lost thelast two, albeit against a strong Bristol side and the reigning championsSaracens. Rhona is quick to dismiss the fact that she started in their openerbefore heading to South Africa, but points out how Loughborough dug deep togrind out a win and held their own against a strong Saracens line up until theclosing moments of the game. They’ll face Firwood Waterloo this weekend and theteam sound motivated to return to winning ways. “Everybody is desperate to getout and get the win. We’re certainly capable of that if we get our headstogether and get our processes right!”
After 10days in South Africa and returning straight into league action you’d beforgiven for thinking rugby was a full-time job, but it’s far from the case,with Lloyd still studying for a masters in Bio Mechanics. She’s honest that itcan be tough bit cites the atmosphere at Loughborough – a sports focuseduniversity – as being much better suited to her needs than the much moretraditionally academic set up in Edinburgh where she did her under graduatestudies. “Once I graduate next year I’ll be juggling a job with my rugby.Watching the likes of (fellow Scotland and Loughborough player) Rachel Malcolmwho is a full-time lecturer, she has it a hundred times worse than me so I’llmake the most of it now!”
For allthat she’s incredibly busy Rhona somehow finds time, along with anotherLoughborough and Scotland colleague Sarah Bonar to create the WomenWho Sport podcast. “I listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of the sportsones are hosted by men and we thought that a younger, female athletesperspective (was something we wanted to share). If even one person hears their stories and learns from it or thinksdifferently about women’s sport it will have been a success”
The pairhave already interviewed Red Roses Natasha Hunt and Emily Scarratt and thereare a host of names from cricket, netball and athletics, alongside theircontacts in rugby, lined up now they’re back on home soil. When oppressed onher dream guests, Rhona is quick to answer: “Maggie Alphonsi. I thinkshe’s amazing, definitely a huge role model for me! Outside of rugby DinaAsher-Smith, I’d love to talk to her. She’s breaking barriers for athleticsand for women in sport and I don’t think there’s been someone like her inBritish athletics for a while!”
Beforethat though, there’s still plenty of studying to do ahead of an evening’straining so we stop there but I’ll be looking forward to highlights and streamsof Loughborough and Scotland’s games as both teams, much like Rhona herself,seem to be on the cusp of achieving some pretty impressive things!
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