Who are the uncapped players in Scotland's World Cup wider training squad?

There are four uncapped players in Scotland’s extended training squad of 38 that will start preparations for the Women’s Rugby World Cup next week.

28 of the group played during the Guinness Women’s Six Nations earlier in the year with Lisa Cockburn, Eva Donaldson, Emma Wassell, Molly Wright, Beth Blacklock and Coreen Grant being the six capped players who have been added to that bunch.

Four others are yet to be capped- Aila Ronald, Hannah Ramsay, Hannah Walker and Meg Varley.

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

At the start of August, the squad will be cut to 32 for the World Cup and the four newbies will be doing everything they can to make it to England in August and September.

Aila Ronald, a 21-year-old hooker, has been in and around the group since last year, but has had to wait patiently for her chance behind Lana Skeldon and Elis Martin.

At the end of the Six Nations in April, head coach Bryan Easson said: “Aila is working in behind Lana and Elis, is learning from them and is getting better all the time.

“Her opportunity will come and she is very diligent and we enjoy having her around the group.”

Ronald’s rugby journey began when she was seven-years-old and she went along to local club Deeside in the north east of Scotland because her dad and brother played.

She played through the Minis with the boys before joining a Grampian mix-type team – bringing together girls from a number of local clubs – until getting involved with Dundee Rugby which involved a lot of travelling.

That was where she was introduced to gym work and S & C and then, when she was an under-18s player, she moved to Garioch in Inverurie and made her transition to senior rugby there.

Since then, she has earned Scotland under-20 caps and been studying at Edinburgh University, playing for the student team and for Edinburgh Rugby in the Celtic Challenge.

Hannah Ramsay has not been around the full squad for long, but the 21-year-old Edinburgh University and Edinburgh stand-off has already made a big impression.

Easson said during the Six Nations: “Hannah is a young player who came in last year as a day trainer and started off ahead of the Six Nations as a day trainer too.

“She then joined our training squad full-time and, seeing her now, the difference in a year is huge.

“She is still young, but as a 10 she’s just got that maturity now of having played more rugby and the Celtic Challenge has obviously been good for her.

“Hannah has got really good distribution skills and she’s got a huge boot on her as well. We are excited to watch her progress.”

With Meryl Smith injured, Ramsay will be out to make the back-up 10 spot to Helen Nelson her own for now and she took up the game after there was a taster session at her primary school in South Queensferry.

Then, after time spent at Linlithgow and Livingston, she played for Corstorphine Cougars in the Premiership and then, in the season just finished, was turning out for Edinburgh University and Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Napier University student is a former under-20 cap, too.

Hannah Walker was part of the wider training group during the Six Nations period and the 20-year-old will certainly head into the summer camps with a spring in her step after a stellar 2024/25.

Along with Ronald, she was a vice-captain for Edinburgh under fellow Scotland squad member Alex Stewart during the Celtic Challenge and winger Walker certainly led by example.

Walker’s prolific try scoring saw her notch up 11 tries and finishing as the Celtic Challenge top try scorer.

She was also named in the Women’s BUCS Super Rugby Team of the Season for her outstanding performances for Edinburgh University and is a former under-20 internationalist.

Walker started playing rugby for the Community School of Auchterarder and progressed to Tayside and Fife and Stirling County before relocating to the capital for her studies.

Meg Varley’s Scotland journey to date has been hit by injuries.

Last February, the ex-England under-20 cap was called up to the full Scotland squad for the first time in the build up to the Six Nations, her selection coming as a result of good club form with Bristol Bears and a paternal grandmother who was born and bred in Edinburgh.

That was a high, but then came a low when she suffered a serious foot injury soon after as Bristol defeated Loughborough Lightning 33-17 in a league match.

Surgery followed before she got herself back fit only to get injured again in training after 40 minutes in a PWR Up match versus Gloucester last September. More foot surgery followed before returning earlier in 2025 with Bristol.

A good run of form led to selection for the Six Nations once more, but again just before the event her injury curse struck and the 26-year-old is currently making good progress.

From the age of two until 2023, Varley was based in and around Coventry and was brought up on rugby league as a result of a father from Bradford.

A long association with Worcester came for her from her teens into her 20s before a move to the Bears.

Notable absentees in the Scotland extended training squad named include playmaker Meryl Smith, who is rehabbing an ACL injury still and is very unlikely to be fit in time, and tighthead prop Christine Belisle, who stepped back from things during the Six Nations due to “putting brain and family time first”.

The 2022 World Cup squad members Louise McMillan, Mairi McDonald, Shona Campbell and Liz Musgrove are not in and either is second-row Fi McIntosh who has earned a few caps in the last couple of years.

Everyone is excited to see 30-year-old 67-times capped second-row Emma Wassell back in the mix, though, after recovering from a tumour in her chest and she, Varley, Hollie Cunningham and Coreen Grant are tracking well in terms of their respective rehabs.

Scotland’s extended 38-strong training squad for the Women’s Rugby World Cup:

Forwards: Leah Bartlett, Gemma Bell, Becky Boyd, Sarah Bonar, Elliann Clarke, Hollie Cunningham, Lisa Cockburn, Eva Donaldson, Evie Gallagher, Adelle Ferrie, Jade Konkel, Rachel Malcolm, Elis Martin, Rachel McLachlan, Aila Ronald, Molly Poolman, Lana Skeldon, Alex Stewart, Emma Wassell, Molly Wright, Anne Young.

Backs: Leia Brebner-Holden, Beth Blacklock, Rhea Clarke, Coreen Grant, Rhona Lloyd, Caity Mattinson, Francesca McGhie, Helen Nelson, Rachel Philipps, Hannah Ramsay, Chloe Rollie, Lucia Scott, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Hannah Walker, Evie Wills, Meg Varley.