Scotland Star Rhona Lloyd on Impact of Women’s Rugby World Cup

Local TV Sport

We spoke with Scotland’s dynamic winger Rhona Lloyd who shared her thoughts on the evolving landscape of women’s rugby and her personal ambitions. Known for her resilience and electric presence on the field, Lloyd offered insight into the growth of the sport and her hopes for the future.  The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup marked a major milestone, showcasing the game on an unprecedented scale. With England securing their third title, the tournament drew over 400,000 spectators, many experiencing women’s rugby for the first time.

Transcript

00:00now we spoke with scotland's dynamic winger rona lloyd who shared her thoughts on the evolving

00:08landscape of women's rugby and her personal ambitions now for her resilience and electric

00:14presence on the field lloyd offered insight into the growth of the sport and her hopes for the

00:20future so rona let's start with the world cup and the incredible impact that it had i mean what did

00:28the tournament sort of show you about how far uh women's rugby has come in terms of quality and

00:33public support that viewing that it got you know really sort of fulfilled the major tournament that

00:38it wanted to be yeah absolutely i think england does women's sport really well which i think put a

00:44little bit of expectation on this world cup we've been saying for for months that it's going to be

00:48the biggest one ever but i think it really even exceeded all of those expectations the tournament

00:52was absolutely fantastic to finish it with 82 000 at a sold out twickenham the last world cup

00:58those 40 000 at the final the one before that was 20 000 so the growth in women's rugby has really

01:02been astronomical and in all the whole cities i think people really got behind women's rugby they

01:08got behind the red roses but they also just got behind the game that there wasn't a a quiet stand

01:13throughout the whole tournament it was so inspiring to be part of and hopefully for for anybody that

01:17was there as a spectator as well the 2025 women's rugby world cup marked a major milestone showcasing the

01:25game on an unprecedented scale with england securing their third title the tournament drew over 400 000

01:31spectators many experiencing women's rugby for the first time for players like lloyd this increased

01:38visibility is a clear signal of growing recognition and support for women's rugby creating opportunities

01:45both on and off the field yeah i mean as you say there england do uh women's sport incredibly well

01:52you obviously had the the women's football euros as well that that going on and then you know you

01:56have the olympic games where you get so many women role models i mean women's sport has changed so

02:01much over the last sort of you know 15 16 17 years or so um you know that's that must be incredible

02:07for you to be in this era where you are appreciated and you are looked up to as a woman in sport you know

02:13um how important is it that those guys who came before you have sort of uh laid that groundwork that

02:18the women before you and maybe didn't get the the support and uh you know credit that they possibly

02:23deserved yeah i think that's a bit when i when i play that's a big why of of i guess the people i want

02:30to make proud it's the players that have come before me in a scotland jersey but also in any jersey for

02:35for any country at women's rugby because it's taken a long time to to get to where we are today i think

02:40the women were always there playing rugby we just couldn't see it and now that people have this access

02:45i feel like there's a massive debt owed to the last generation that we can never repay them but we

02:50can only pay it forward to the next generation and and keep fighting to to make the game even better

02:55and hopefully soon we're not talking about eight two thousand twickenham being a one-off match we're

03:00talking about that being every six nations match and that when the red roses play twickenham that's

03:05a crowd that we see so yeah i think i can't do enough justice to the the people that have made

03:10this possible who have been playing since the first world cup in 1990 lord herself has left an

03:15indeliable mark on the sport her performances helped scotland reach the world cup quarterfinals

03:21for the first time since 2002 demonstrating both her talent and determination looking ahead she is

03:29determined to be part of history once more by joining the british and irish lions

03:33on their inaugural women's tour to new zealand in 2027 with strong backing for this landmark tour

03:40lloyd sees us as a chance to inspire the next generation while continuing to elevate the profile

03:46of women's rugby and obviously the women's lions tour i mean that just sort of shows how

03:53um the game has grown to have that first tour what's that going to be like for you in terms of

03:58the countdowns on you want to make sure you're in the mix um i mean that's so exciting to have that

04:03sort of target on the horizon yeah it's massively exciting for everybody playing the game i think

04:08before we had the world cup every four years as as these landmark events and women's rugby and

04:12opportunities to grow the game whereas actually now that we're going to have the british and irish

04:17lions women's tours every two years in between that is is going to be incredible in terms of the eyes

04:23that we can get on women's rugby all the way through to the elite level there's more and more girls

04:27playing so we need to make sure that the facilities are there to make that possible

04:30through her achievements and ambitions rena lloyd embodies the spirit of progress in the sport

04:37representing both its current momentum and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead

04:43so

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