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Celtic Challenge: Scotland hopeful Aila Ronald vows to 'keep improving'
By Gary Heatly
Aila Ronald had to get off the tram she was on in late August such was the shock she felt at her first Scotland call-up – and her career is definitely on the right track heading into the upcoming Celtic Challenge with Edinburgh Rugby and a busy 2025.
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During the summer, hooker Ronald, 20, was one of Scotland’s standout players at the under-20 Six Nations Women’s Summer Series in Italy.
That led to the Edinburgh University player being called up to the wider Scotland training squad for pre-season in July, albeit as a ‘day trainer’ to aid her development, not as a full member of the group.
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However, over the next five or so weeks at Scotland’s Oriam base on the outskirts of Edinburgh, she impressed head coach Bryan Easson and forwards coach Fraser Brown so much that she was soon in their thoughts for their slimmed-down squad that was to be playing home Tests with Wales and Fiji in September and then travel to WXV 2 in South Africa for a title defence.
“I felt in a really good place after the under-20s tournament in the summer because I had come off a really good batch of training before that and then played in that event and got good minutes under my belt,” Ronald, who grew up in the north east of Scotland and began her rugby journey at local club Deeside, said.
“At the start of the year, I’d had three injuries back-to-back so that training block and then games with the 20s helped me get back to regular rugby and I was feeling good physically after that.
“I gelled a lot with girls on the trip who I hadn’t really known before too so that was good and although we had some tough luck with injuries to some players out there and some tough games, I think we all learnt a lot from the experience to take forward.
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“After a two-week break, I wasn’t really thinking that I’d be getting a Scotland training call-up at that point, all of my focus had been on the 20s after the injuries I’d had, so to get selected firstly as a day trainer was great.
“I loved it from day one. I went into it feeling like I was in good shape and it was a really intense five weeks or so block of training at Oriam surrounded by the best players in the country.
“It was a shock at first in terms of the set piece work and the standards as it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I felt like a bit of a fish out of water at first trying to take on a lot of new information.
“However, soon I eased into things and I really enjoyed pushing myself in that environment.”
Ronald’s enjoyment was helped by the support she had in camp from the senior hookers Lana Skeldon and Elis Martin as well as aforementioned forwards coach Fraser Brown.
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“I could not have asked for two better hookers to be working with than Lana and Elis, they were great with me,” Ronald, who as well as Deeside played for Dundee Rugby and Garioch in her youth, explained.
“Lana sat with me and talked through lineouts and things like that while Elis would write out lineout details and send them to me and they really helped me feel at ease in that space.
“And working with Fraser, a former international hooker himself, was also excellent during that block. I really like the way he goes about things, I like his coaching style and he was really encouraging and gave me lots of feedback.
“I had never been coached by a forwards coach who had been a hooker before so I just tried to ask him as many questions as I could and soak it all in.”
After the pre-season training block, Ronald and her fellow day trainers left the group, but she was soon back into it along with centre Rachel Philipps as the two uncapped ‘bolters’ were named in the 30-player squad for September and WXV 2.
“I had no idea that I was in with a shot of that, in fact on the day we got emailed to tell us about the squad I wasn’t really checking my phone because I just wasn’t expecting it,” Ronald, who is in her third year at Edinburgh University studying psychology, admitted.
“I’d had a great time as a day trainer and was thinking how I could then build on that going forward, but then I did check my emails about an hour after selection had been announced and I saw I was in there.
“It was the biggest shock, I was on the tram in Edinburgh and I actually had to get off the tram and take a moment because I was chatting away to myself in my head and was really happy, it was the strangest day of my life, but in a good way!
“There were a lot of feelings swirling round my head and it took me a minute to calm myself down, but it was then really good to be around the group during the home Vodafone Series Tests with Wales and Fiji in September.
“There was a different vibe in camp those weeks than previously and I was able to see how seasoned internationals build up and prepare for matches as game day approaches which was very beneficial.
“By the time we flew off to South Africa for WXV 2, I felt more at ease in the environment, but there were still quite a few ‘pinch me’ type moments such as when we walked into the [55,000 capacity] DHL Stadium for the first time and I was thinking ‘this is crazy’.
“With each day and training session out in South Africa I got more used to things and being in an amazing place like Cape Town for my first Scotland senior trip started to sink in and I just enjoyed every aspect of tour life.
“I was rooming with fellow uncapped player Rachel Philipps and that was good because we could compare experiences at the end of the day and bed into that environment together while at training in the lead up to games we really enjoyed running as that week’s opposition to help the matchday 23 prepare.
“To be part of things when captain Rachel Malcolm got her 50th cap versus Italy was a privilege while I enjoyed seeing my under-20 teammates Leia Brebner-Holden and Lucia Scott breaking into matchday 23s.
“They are both brilliant people and brilliant players and it shows me that I am not far away from achieving that goal too.”
As she alluded to, Ronald did not earn a full cap in the wins over Wales, Fiji, Italy, Japan and the loss to Australia during that time, but heading into a Rugby World Cup year she is right in the mix.
Since returning from South Africa she has been playing for Edinburgh University in BUCS Super Rugby while last week the former Scotland Futures cap was named in the Edinburgh squad for her second Celtic Challenge campaign.
That all starts this Friday evening with a home derby with Glasgow Warriors at Hive Stadium and Ronald is feeling in a good place.
She concluded: “I kept lots of notes through the whole Scotland experience from day one of training camp through to the end of the South Africa trip and I learnt a huge amount about myself as a player and as a person in that period.
“I have learnt more about how to conduct yourself in and around the group on and off the pitch at that level, I have learnt a lot more about recovery and looking after yourself and I have learnt just to be yourself.
“And, rugby-wise, I learnt so much, every session there was something new to take in and the Scotland group is really good at giving each other feedback and help so that everyone is constantly improving.
“That is what I want to keep doing now, just keep improving.
“I want to take my game forward, get some game time with Edinburgh and then take things from there during what is set to be a busy and exciting 2025.”
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