More women playing rugby in Scotland than ever before

Edinburgh University Women's Rugby Captain Sarah Law, St Andrews Women's Rugby President Naomi Boon, Captain of St Andrews Scott Docherty and Edinburgh Captain Nick Stephen

As Scotland kicks off its Six Nations tournament this weekend against Ireland at Murrayfield, the SNP has highlighted new figures showing more women in Scotland are playing rugby than ever before.

The figures, obtained from the SRU via the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), confirm the number of young women playing rugby has swelled by a staggering 95 per cent since 2009/10 – with participation in the adult women’s game also growing by 72.5 per cent over the same period.

The total number of people in Scotland playing rugby is up by over a quarter since 2009.

Highlands and Islands MSP Maree Todd, who is attending both women and men’s team fixtures in this year’s Six Nation and will be representing the Scottish Parliament rugby team in upcoming fixtures against the House of Commons and Welsh Assembly, is calling for greater exposure of women’s rugby in Scotland. She said: “Today sees the start of another Six Nations with Scotland against Ireland at Murrayfield.

“But it’s not just the boys taking to the pitch. Last night, Scotland’s women were in action and SRU figures show a huge upsurge in women taking up rugby.