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Hollie Cunningham: 'I didn’t know about my Scottish eligibility for a while'
By Gary Heatly
Hollie Cunningham cannot help but smile when she recalls the joyous recent phone call she made to her grandmother Gwenda to tell her that she had been selected in Scotland’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations squad.
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The uncapped Bristol Bears second-row, 25, was named in the 34-strong extended group that head coach Bryan Easson announced on February 19 and, once her place was confirmed, one of the first people she contacted was gran Gwenda Cunningham.
Cunningham’s paternal grandmother was born in Aberdeen and raised in Scotland during her early life before relocating down south and that link is how the consistent PWR performer is eligible to play for the country.
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“My gran now lives in Weymouth and was very excited when I called her to tell her the news about my Scotland call-up,” Cunningham, a former England under-18 and 20 cap, said.
“I could hear that she was pacing up and down the living room and she seemed to have a lot of energy after hearing the news and didn’t know what to do with herself. She was really happy and that made me feel happy.
“Since that first call she has told me in the last few days that she has already ordered herself a Scotland shirt while she is very good with crafts so I am hoping that I’ll get a Scottish scrunchie for my hair or some other Scottish bits from her soon!
“She’s really excited about what might be to come and if I get the chance to represent Scotland in a match going forward then she will be my number one fan for sure.
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“I didn’t actually know about my Scottish eligibility for quite a while.
“At some stage, my gran obviously lost any trace of a Scottish accent so I always just presumed she was English, but when I was chatting to my grandparents a while ago she got talking about her background up in Scotland.
“I then mentioned it in passing to [Bristol Bears’ head coach] Dave Ward and [assistant coach] Tom Luke and from there the wheels started turning really.
“My focus this season, as with every other, has been Bristol Bears and nothing else so I was not actively seeking something new, but then I had a phone call with Bryan Easson around November time and, although taken aback a bit by the interest, I was really interested in what he had to say about the Scotland set-up.
“The culture and the ethos they have in that squad seems to align with what we have at Bears and very much matches up with my own values.
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“From that chat with Bryan I then had a number of chats with [club teammate] Lana Skeldon down here in Bristol and she spoke very highly of the Scotland set-up that she has been a part of for a long time and I thought ‘I’d like to be a part of that’.”
The ‘Scotland vision’ going forward into what is a busy 2025 with the Rugby World Cup at the end of it was sold to Cunningham by Easson, Skeldon and the other Scots in the Bristol squad.
And a Burns Supper late last month led by the Bears’ Scots’ contingent – there are now six in the international squad as well as Meryl Smith who is injured – also helped Cunningham to get ready for things north of the border.
“Lana did an ‘Address to the Haggis’, we ate haggis and some delicious empire biscuits and there was a ceilidh,” Cunningham, whose rugby journey to the pro ranks went via St Mary’s Old Boys in Almondsbury, Cleve RFC, Hartpury College and Exeter University, revealed.
“It was great fun, but no one told me just how hard a ceilidh was, my calves were burning after that!
“Seriously though, I am really looking forward to getting up to Edinburgh and meeting the Scotland girls soon and I want to immerse myself in that environment and give it my all.”
Talking about players giving it their all segues nicely from Scotland to Bristol because the Bears certainly had to give it their all to make the PWR play-offs.
Defeats to Trailfinders and Loughborough Lightning in rounds 15 and 16 of regular season action in late January and earlier this month put last year’s beaten finalists’ top-four hopes in real danger.
However, they fought back to defeat Harlequins away in their last regular season match in round 17 and, along with other results, it meant that they finished fourth and are now getting ready for a semi-final away to table toppers Gloucester-Hartpury this Sunday.
“We made it hard for ourselves, but we certainly peaked at the right time with the win over Harlequins away when we needed it most,” Cunningham said.
“Before that, there had been a couple of tricky games where we were not at our best, but I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and as tough as the losses were at the time I think they have helped us build up to where we are now and we are feeling good in semi-final week.
“It has been a bit of a roller coaster last month or so, but having had last weekend off it has allowed us to fully reset since that Quins game on February 14 and all of our focus now is on the big match with Gloucester-Hartpury on Sunday.
“We have had some good battles with them in recent years, including last year’s final, and we know at their ground they are a tough opponent, but I believe as a group we are ready for the challenge and on the day it will just be about doing our jobs right.”
Win or lose the semi-final, with the final on March 16, Cunningham is set to travel to Edinburgh next week to meet the Scotland squad during their second pre-Six Nations camp which runs from March 3 to 5.
Her Bristol teammate Meg Varley, the centre/winger who has been named in the squad before but had to withdraw due to injury, is another of the nine uncapped players in the Scotland group which is getting ready to face Wales on March 22.
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So, what types of people and players can Scotland supporters expect from the two flatmates Cunningham and Varley?
“Meg is such a fun person off the pitch, we all call her a ‘loose goose’, but as soon as she crosses that whitewash onto the pitch she is laser-focused and she gets her ‘game face’ on and she is hard to stop with ball in hand,” Cunningham said.
“She is an amazing person and an incredible player and I think she will offer something that Scotland will want to grab with two hands.
“As for me, I am not a flashy player, but I take real pride in doing the simple things well and getting my job done around the pitch to allow the team that I am playing for to flourish.
“I work hard on all aspects of my game and just love it when doing my job helps my team to get a win, that gives me great satisfaction.”
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Good luck to her. To me the only reason for choosing another home country over the Red Roses when you are only distantly qualified for them is if you realise that you won’t get in the Red Roses team.
Holly is 25 and you right with aldcroft,ward,galligan,talling,o donnell,ives campion,beckett ahead of her at 2nd row,she probably thought she might not get another chance at international rugby and the prospect of a fulltime contract with scotland was too tempting to turn down. understandable really.So I dont blame her. the rules allow it,even if the link to scotland is a bit tenuous.
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