This weekend marks a pivotal moment in Scottish women’s rugby as the Glasgow Warriors women’s team prepares to face off against Edinburgh in their first-ever home match at Scotstoun Stadium. Scheduled for this Saturday, the bragging rights in one of Scotland’s oldest rugby rivalries are up for grabs.
The match is part of the Celtic Challenge, a competition that has expanded this year to include teams from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh have newly formed women’s teams, bringing a fresh dimension to the historic rivalry. This encounter will be their second meeting of the season after their initial clash in December 2023 at Hive Stadium, where Edinburgh secured a narrow victory. Glasgow currently trail the table so a victory here would give them precious points and a moral boost going forward.
Holland Bogan of Glasgow Warriors sees the game as an opportunity to measure the development of the young team and told glasgowwarriors.org;
“We’ve evolved so much as a team, especially with the mix of new players and those returning to the squad. We’ve also learnt from the players who aren’t Scotland-based, which gives us another point of view for development.”
The second-row discussed how the team has reacted to each match to date, and what the process on building up their performances looks like on a weekly basis.”
“We have learnt a lot from mistakes that have cost us in each match, and that’s both testament to the coaching group here and our development as a group,”
“We always go back and review the matches week in and week out and pinpoint what we can do better. We’ve definitely tackled things that we felt needed improvement and have worked on our structure more, but there is obviously way more that can be better.”
“We are definitely building and that continues this weekend.”
Both Ireland, Scotland and Wales have two teams each in the competition with a full double round-robin format where each team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away. This structure ensures each team has ten matches during the regular season, providing ample game time for player development and competition.
Teams earn 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, and gain 1 bonus point in the event of scoring four or more tries in a match. There is also bonus points available in the event of a close loss, although no match points will be gained for a loss.
The competition spans from December to March, aligning the season to provide preparation ahead of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations and the Women’s Rugby World Cup. This timing allows players to use the Celtic Challenge as a stepping stone for international readiness.
