All eyes on the opening weekend of the Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership

Defending champions Stirling County begin their title defence away from home as they travel west to face Cartha Queen’s Park.

Ahead of the new campaign, Cartha hosted all seven of their Premiership opponents at the club for the Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership media launch. With the reigning champions up first, Cartha’s Shona Jessiman knows her side will need to produce their best performance as they look to make a strong start to the season.

For Cartha, success this season will be about more than simply retaining their Premiership status, with Jessiman highlighting the importance of continuing to improve the quality of their play. “For Cartha, a successful season, as well as staying up in the Premiership, is just working on our quality of play.”

In Edinburgh, Corstorphine will be looking to open their campaign with a win as they aim to build on their dominant 2024/25 season, when they finished unbeaten with 15 wins from 15 matches. With a new coaching set-up of Gavin Emerson and Ross Hutchison in place, they will be one to watch this season.

Captain Zoe Turner, who played a key role in their previous Premiership title successes, will once again lead the side and has set her sights on a top-three finish, saying: “We definitely want to be in the top three.”

They welcome Hillhead Jordanhill, who will be hoping to make an early impact and carry the momentum from the end of last season into the new campaign.

After narrowly falling short against Watsonians in the Sarah Beaney Cup final, captain Siobhan McGinley is confident her side can start the season strongly, with Hillhead Jordanhill looking to carry the form and confidence from their cup run into Saturday’s opener. “We’re looking to start our season how we ended it, on a high,” said McGinley.

At Goldenacre, Heriot’s welcome Biggar, with the visitors set to begin their Premiership campaign on the road. For Biggar, the new season brings another opportunity to test themselves against some of the country’s strongest sides while continuing to develop players within the club. Captain Ellie Ritchie is particularly proud to see Biggar represented at the highest level and of the pathway the Premiership provides for players to progress, saying: “I’m so proud to pull on a Biggar shirt, especially when we see some of the girls going on to play for Scotland representing Biggar.”

The final fixture of the opening weekend takes place at Myreside, where Watsonians host Garioch. Watsonians narrowly missed out on the Premiership title last season but ended their campaign on a high by defeating Hillhead Jordanhill in the Scottish Cup final to lift the Sarah Beaney Cup. Rachel Law and her team will be looking to go one step further this season as they begin their latest Premiership campaign.

Speaking at the media launch, the Watsonians captain outlined the team’s ambitions for the season ahead, with the prospect of securing both major domestic honours firmly in their sights. “We know we have the potential to do the double.”

Garioch will be determined to make life difficult for the hosts. After reaching the playoffs last season, they return for the new campaign with David Duguid back at the club as head coach, alongside a number of new players. Captain Sammy Ross described the season ahead as “a bit of a reset season” as Garioch look to build a new chapter for the club.

The Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership continues to provide a competitive platform for clubs and an important pathway for player development, with supporters set to have more opportunities to follow the action this season.

Scottish Rugby will increase its digital coverage across the 2026/27 campaign, with weekly fixtures from the Men’s and Women’s Premiership, Boys’ U18 Open Competition and other domestic competitions receiving additional attention. A total of 25 Match of the Week fixtures, alongside Premiership, youth, Inter-District, Club XV and Cup Finals coverage, will be available to watch live on the Scottish Rugby YouTube channel, with each Match of the Week also supported across Scottish Rugby’s digital channels before, during and after the game.

The first round of Arnold Clark Women’s Premiership matches takes place on Saturday 5 September, with kick-off scheduled for 2pm.