Highland teenager speaks of her pride of playing rugby for Scotland
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A Highland Rugby Club teenager has got her first taste of international rugby with Scotland.
Rianna Darroch represented her country in the U18 Six Nations and at Rugby Europe U18 7s Girls Championship in Prague in Czechia.
Darroch (17), who played at inside centre for the Scots, completed most of the game time at the Six Nations held at Wellington College in London in the spring over a 10-day period.
The Aviemore teenager then made the cut for the smaller U18 squad which travelled to the sevens finishing in seventh place overall.
It was not to be for Scotland in the Six Nations with defeats against England (21-0), Wales (17-7), Ireland (31-5) and France (44-0) in 35 minute mini fixtures.
The competition culminated in the final round with a 70 minute international with the Scots losing narrowly by 19-15 to Italy.
Darroch said: “There were probably a couple of hundred people watching but you do not really notice when you are on the pitch – but you certainly notice it when the anthems are playing.
“I did have butterflies in my stomach especially playing on the international stage for the first time. It was cool but pretty daunting.”
She added: “I managed to play for an hour against Italy so I was chuffed with that. It was a class experience being away with the squad – it was really cool.
“I’ve hopefully got another Six Nations next year and I am looking forward to the trials again.
I was one of the younger members of the squad this year but next time out would be one of the older heads.”
