Money talks for Scotland women's rugby support ahead of Six Nations

With the TikTok Women’s Six Nations just days away, Scotland head coach Bryan Easson has said that, in terms of Scottish Rugby supporting the players, 35 squad members “all have an individual package now that suits their lives”.

Jade Konkel was the first pro Scotland rugby player. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The discussion about female players being full-time or paid in some way came to prominence again recently when Wales, who Scotland play in round two of the tournament on April 2, handed out 12 full-time and 12 retainer contracts.

The England squad that Scotland will host in round one at the DAM Health Stadium on Saturday are pretty much all full-time athletes.

Jade Konkel was Scotland’s first female pro player in 2016 and others followed, but since 2019 when 10 players were listed as contracted via Scottish Rugby, no definitive information has been made available.

Head Coach Bryan Easson has discussed the support packages available to Scotland Women's rugby players. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

“We have gone away from the word contract, we prefer to look at the support we can give individual players,” Easson said.

“There have been discussions with each and every one of our performance group, that is circa 35 players, and with each player we discussed with them how we can support them.

“They all have an individual package now that suits their lives and those packages at the moment allow us to improve our performances.

“We don’t want to compare ourselves to England, Wales or Ireland, we want to focus on what is going to help us perform the best.

“The packages vary for each individual, some of them are financial and we work with employers and universities and such like to work out the best thing for that player.”

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