Molly Wright – Frontline Forward

Molly, a physiotherapist by trade, has been redeployed into a rehab hospital.

Describing life on the front line, she said: “It is nice because you actually have an opportunity to help. You can make a difference to people in a time that is a bit strange.

“My role is to help people get stronger and fitter after illness. We deal with COVID-19 patients, those recovering from it but equally we have a huge cohort of patients who would normally be in hospital because they have been unwell with other conditions that we are trying to manage.

“I am still in work so in lots of ways I still have some structure in my days which I appreciate make me quite lucky.

“The biggest change for me is probably in training, so I am very lucky that I have a programme so I can do my training at home. I have been given running and resistance training programmes. My mornings are spent doing resistance training, I then go to work, come home and do my running. It’s different that I don’t see any of my pals, I don’t train with any of the girls but equally still pretty structured.”

Wright, who first picked up a rugby ball at the age of 4 in New Zealand, has been playing ever since. This year she reached the peak of her career with international selection for Scotland.

“For me, Scotland is home. I have set up my life and career here. New Zealand is very like Scotland.”

With family all on the other side of the world, picking up her first cap in Spain meant that they had to tune in to watch the match in the middle of the night. Wright said on how her family feel about her playing for Scotland.

“I think they probably have blue hearts now! My mum has never particularly been a big fan of rugby, but she is now Scottish Rugby’s biggest fan. My dad was very emotional on my first cap. It was pretty special for them and for me.”

“They have the three games that I’ve played in recorded and show them to anyone who walks through the door!

“To do the thing I love for the country I love was pretty cool. It was a great day for rugby with a fantastic crowd in Spain for my first cap. I enjoyed every moment of that day, and a try was the icing on the cake for sure!”

Wright never expected when she moved to Scotland that she would be receiving her first cap for the country a few years later.

“I never anticipated that I would be playing rugby. I thought that I had hung up my boots! When I moved to Edinburgh, it was a way to make friends. My flatmate very much nudged me out the door in the direction of Watsonians. Had you asked me three or four years ago that this is where I expected myself to be, then no probably not.

“It has just come this way and it is an opportunity that I have been very lucky to take up.”

Wright’s career means that even though she is missing rugby in what was due to be a busy year for Scotland, she knows that she needs to look at the bigger picture.

“It is disappointing on a personal level but to be honest this pandemic is far bigger than rugby and my career in rugby, so it has just been put on hold.

“Rugby is not fully out of my mind even through this. There are still lots that we are doing to keep in touch as a team and lots of support from Scottish Rugby. We are in regular contact with our teammates for training sessions. I wouldn’t say that rugby is forgotten but equally in my role, it (my job) has taken a much larger part in my life right now.”

On the prospect of getting back playing, she added: “It’s constantly something that you are looking forward to. It is a big lifestyle change from spending most of your time with a group of your friends, training together all of the time, to then not being able to see them.

“It does make training a lot more challenging to keep motivated and to keep working but it’s not so bad because we are such a tight knit unit, so we are just working together as best as we can.

“My non rugby playing flat mate is becoming very adept at handling the ball and catching my throws. So, I am lucky that I have someone that I live with who will humour me.”

“We are taking each day as it comes and training as hard as we can. For me it is an opportunity to try and get fitter and stronger and to try and cement myself in the squad.”
Molly Wright