For the first time, during the Guinness Six Nations 2025, Scotland have utilised Vodafone’s PLAYER.Connect technology to support player education and empowerment in the pursuit of female health and performance.

Implemented as part of Scottish Rugby’s pioneering partnership with Vodafone, the platform combines Vodafone’s technical expertise and the specialist insight of Scottish Rugby’s high-performance practitioners, to create a powerful tool capable of driving meaningful improvements in both performance and health outcomes – now and for future generations of players.

This innovative platform integrates player management processes – including menstrual cycle tracking- to provide a comprehensive, real-time overview. Current studies show that up to 67% of female rugby players feel symptoms related to their menstrual cycle have a significant impact on performance however, through instant analysis, the Vodafone PLAYER.Connect tool allows performance staff to make better informed decisions around player welfare and supports the implementation of tailored, individualised player management strategies.

In addition to menstrual tracking features, Vodafone PLAYER.Connect also incorporates new concussion tracking technology, enabling Scotland’s female athletes to better log and manage symptoms. The unique capability of the platform to cross-reference multiple forms of health data, means performance staff will be able to run comparative analysis in real-time, bringing together concussion management and menstrual cycle data, the first time this will be possible outside of a research environment.

The mobile-first tool also lets performance staff monitor athletes’ health and wellbeing even when outside of training camp windows – a crucial advantage for international teams.

Importantly, Vodafone PLAYER.Connect forms part of a broader national alignment across the female performance programmes where each squad, will have the ability to utilise a tailored version of the platform, designed around the physical performance and educational priorities relevant to their environment.

Most recently, Scotland Women U18s used a streamlined, targeted version of Vodafone PLAYER.Connect during the U18 Six Nations Festival. The platform supported player load and recovery throughout the competition period, with dedicated player education sessions delivered across the tournament to connect with outcomes of the program.

An expanded rollout is planned for summer 2025, incorporating additional features such as female health tracking and enhanced player learning tools, alongside further onboarding of Scottish Rugby’s other performance programs.

Florence Laing, Scotland Women Clinical Lead Physiotherapist said: “What will be really exciting about this platform is that we’ll be able to see a pattern for each individual and work out which symptoms potentially relate to menstrual cycle and which symptoms are linked to concussion, and we can ask important questions like is there crossover between the two, for example.”

Bryan Easson, Scotland Women Head Coach, added: “We’ve got our Medical Lead and Head of Physical Performance who look very closely at everything we find on the platform. The fact that it elevates the women’s game, the fact that it elevates our performance is outstanding for us.”