Scotland Women captain Rachel Malcolm on what leadership means to her

Rachel, who is Scotland’s most-capped captain across the men’s or women’s sides, will skipper the team once more when her side take on the 2025 Rugby World Cup finalists and current number three in the world this weekend.

And ahead of the revamped WXV competition, Rachel sat down at Oriam to candidly discuss how she approaches the role of captain and the learnings she has made along the way since first leading the side in 2019 whilst on tour in South Africa.

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“I love being part of this group and that’s the reason why I’m still here – these women inspire me to be a better version of myself and I want to try and inspire them to be the best version of their selves,” Rachel said.

“The words I use and the way I portray that to them is because I want them to feel like the superwomen that they are and I want them to go out onto the pitch and know they have a group of women behind them who are also so special but will back them up to the bitter end.

“That’s what makes this group so special. I can stand up in front of them and say quite literally anything in the most extravagant way but I know they’ll back me up.”

You can find out more about Rachel’s journey as captain and what that role looks like coming into the opening weekend of the Vodafone Scotland WXV series in the video below: