Borderers Lisa Thomson and Chloe Rollie named in Scottish rugby sevens squad competing in France at weekend

Borderers Chloe Rollie and, right, Lisa Thomson in training with the Scotland national XVs team in Edinburgh last month during this year's Women's Six Nations (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group/SRU)

Hawick’s Thomson and Jedburgh’s Rollie feature in the 13-strong squad announced today, May 16, by head coach Scott Forrest to represent their country as an invitational side at the Toulouse leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series taking place from Friday to Sunday, May 20 to 22.

It’s only the second time that Scotland’s women have featured on the circuit, having previously competed in Biarritz in France in 2019.

South Lanarkshire-born Forrest, a former player for Hawick and the Border Reivers, says this weekend’s French trip will be invauable for his players as they prepare for this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

All 13 players he’s taking to Occitania were part of national head coach Bryan Easson’s training group for the recent Women’s Six Nations tournament, with Thomson, 24, having been an ever-present for that campaign and Rollie, 26, only missing one match.

Sale Sharks centre Thomson – named as co-captain, along with Helen Nelson, for this weekend’s games – and Exeter Chiefs full-back Rollie have now amassed almost a century’s worth of caps between them for the national XVs side, the former being on 45 and the latter on 49.

Also in the squad are Rhona Lloyd, Megan Gaffney, Shona Campbell, Emma Orr, Meryl Smith, Abi Evans, Caity Mattinson, Coreen Grant, Rachel McLachlan and Evie Wills.

Forrest, 37, said: “In such an important year for women’s rugby, with the Commonwealth Games on the horizon, being able to compete in Toulouse on the HSBC World Sevens Series provides some excellent preparation for us.

“It is only the second time that Scotland have played a part in the series but we have a good amount of experience in the squad, and I’m confident that we can go to France and give a good account of ourselves.”

The Scots have been drawn in a pool with New Zealand, Canada and Spain.

They play New Zealand at 8.52am and Canada at 4pm on Friday, then Spain at 8.30am on Saturday, with their itinerary after that being dictated by their placing in their pool.