Claire Cruikshank Interview: Women's BUCS Super Rugby 'a really exciting opportunity' to showcase student game
The University of Edinburgh open the new Women's BUCS Super Rugby season against most recent champions Hartpury
©BUCS Super Rugby
A lot of the talk around women’s rugby in Scotland just now is about Saturday’s international against Fiji but before that, there is another big match worth mentioning.
At 4pm on Friday, Hive Stadium - Edinburgh Rugby's ground which lies in the shadows of Scottish Gas Murrayfield where the national team will be playing 24 hours later - will be the home of the University of Edinburgh who have been given the honour of hosting the first-ever Women's BUCS Super Rugby fixture.
The side from the Scottish capital will entertain reigning BUCS Women’s National League champions Hartpury University after the premier competition was given a facelift and a rebrand over the summer.
These two sides will compete over the coming months with Cardiff, Cardiff Met, Durham, Exeter and Loughborough in a competition which, now on the same footing as Men’s BUCS Super Rugby, will get more exposure and, according to the organisers, "provide an enhanced platform to aid female players at institutions in England, Wales and Scotland to develop their game alongside pursuing higher education."
This first game of the season will be streamed via the BUCS Super Rugby YouTube channel and Claire Cruikshank, the Head of Performance of Women’s Rugby at the University of Edinburgh, said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for women’s student rugby to really showcase the product and show a wider audience the quality that there is at this level.
"If you look at the Scotland-Wales Test match last Friday for example [which Scotland won 40-14], a number of players involved in both matchday squads have come through playing BUCS rugby for various teams and there is no doubt that the quality of the competition has been growing year-on-year.
"Having the competition rebranded as Women’s BUCS Super Rugby will just help up that quality yet again and with some games being streamed live and the organisers really putting a lot of effort into promoting the league, it will get more eyes on things and more players will be able to show people what they can do.
"I know how much time and effort we put into our women’s rugby programme at the University of Edinburgh and I know it is the same at the other institutions in this league. All of the players are juggling their rugby with studies, but they train and play like performance athletes and they really put the hours in.
"It is an honour for us at Edinburgh, as the only Scottish team in the league, to be hosting the first match of 2024/25 and we always enjoy our tussles with Hartpury so anyone who comes along or who is able to watch on YouTube will see a good contest.
"And thanks to our partnership with Edinburgh Rugby we have been able to host this match at Hive Stadium just before Edinburgh’s men take on Gloucester in a pre-season game so again that raises the profile of this opener.”
A glance at the current Scotland Women's squad that beat Wales 40-14 last week - and will head off for a WXV 2 title defence in South Africa next week - shows that a large number of them have had or have connections with the University of Edinburgh.
The programme that Cruikshank and others have built up has become highly regarded and the likes of Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears), Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers), Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears), Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning), Aila Ronald (University of Edinburgh), Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars), Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning), Rhona Lloyd (GB 7s/Stade Bordelais), Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning), Rachel Philipps (Sale Sharks), Lisa Thomson (GB 7s/Ealing Trailfinders) and Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears) have links with the university in some way.
Walker, Fletcher, Clarke and Logan to lead from the front for University of Edinburgh
The current University of Edinburgh squad has some real talent in it with Hannah Walker, who was recently in the Scotland wider squad for their pre-season training block, captaining this year.
The winger played for Edinburgh Rugby in last season’s Celtic Challenge and then was co-captain of the Scotland under-20s at the Women’s Summer Series in Italy.
Her co-captain on that trip was loosehead prop Poppy Fletcher and she is a vice-captain of the University of Edinburgh along with scrum-half Rhea Clarke.
Fletcher played for Edinburgh Rugby last term while Clarke was co-captain of Glasgow Warriors in the Celtic Challenge and was also in Italy in the summer as an ‘overage’ player.
Another ‘overage’ player who was part of Scotland's Summer Series plans was second-row Natasha Logan and, having played regularly for Edinburgh Rugby in 2023/24, like Walker, she was recently training with Scotland and she will give good support to the leadership trio.
The overall quartet will be key for the University of Edinburgh in the coming months, but for now, Cruikshank and co are just focused on Hartpury.
"It is early in the academic year, but the girls have put in a good pre-season block and it is always an exciting time of year," Cruikshank added.
"A bit like Scotland playing their first game of the season as a Test match versus Wales in the Vodafone Series, we too are hitting the ground running into a really competitive match against a strong opponent, but I know the squad cannot wait to be out there at the Hive.”
A ticket link for the Edinburgh-Hartpury match is here https://www.eticketing.co.uk scottishrugby/EDP/Event/Index/5352
