Vodafone Scotland WXV Series prep underway for Meryl Smith

Ahead of three home fixtures against Canada, New Zealand and Australia at Hive Stadium next month – with tickets available here – the squad convened at Oriam earlier this week to begin the hard work.

To be back together as a squad and to have such a productive run-in, Smith says, can only stand them in good stead ahead of that opening game against the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup runners-up Canada on 12 September.

“It has been great to be back in and see everyone’s faces again,” the 27-time cap said. “It’s a really exciting few months ahead for us.

“I’m excited to hit the ground running and get to work with all the new coaches as well. I’m excited to see what they have got planned.

“It does feel like first day of term a bit! A lot of the girls won’t have seen each other properly since the end of Six Nations and that feels like a long time ago now.

“There are always those first day of school nerves as well. Pre-season can be a bit of an intimidating time, so there are some nerves as you want to hit the ground running, but there is a lot of excitement and we’re ready to do the hard work.”

Following a lengthy absence due to injury, Smith returned to the Scotland Women squad for the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, starting in each of the five matches.

Two of those games came at home – in front of a record-breaking crowd at Scottish Gas Murrayfield and at the Hive – and the playmaker can’t wait to be back in front of the home fans when Scotland Women come up against stern opposition next month.

“It’s going to be so exciting to be back at home,” Smith added. “The support we had during Six Nations was great and that was only two games, so to have three back-to-back is a good opportunity to be back and play in front of our fans.

“We will need their support when we’re coming up against some of the best teams in the world.

“And how cool will it be to have the Haka performed in Edinburgh? Having the crowd behind us when we face up to that is just such a cool prospect.”

The inaugural Vodafone Scotland WXV Series provides Scotland the opportunity to test themselves against nations they may not routinely face.

Following the three home fixtures in September, Scotland Women will then travel to Australia to face the Wallaroos in a double-header in Sydney and Canberra on 17 and 23 October, respectively, as part of the WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric.

“They’re the best teams in the world and it’s such an exciting opportunity,” Smith said on the five-Test series.

“Coming up against these sort of teams is not something we’ve had too often. It’s great to play the Six Nations teams regularly and we’ve had a few Autumn Tests against the likes of USA and Japan, which have been really good opposition to put ourselves up against.

“To face some of the best teams in the world outside of a World Cup is something that you have to do, so when we come to it in 2029 then we’ll be used to competing at that level.

“It’ll be tough, but over the next few weeks that we have together we will put ourselves in a good position to really push them. That’s what we want to go and do.

“The Six Nations was a tough time, but you only go into that with a few days together so to have this period of time together to really get the detail and hard work in – it can only pay off later.

“It’s invaluable and, hopefully, that will show when we get to the games in September.”

New additions to the Scotland Women coaching set-up sees Robbie Fergusson, Chris Laidlaw and Tom Luke join interim Head Coach Dave Butcher’s staff for the upcoming matches.

Smith is familiar with all three, having been a part of the Scotland Women 7s squad for the Commonwealth Games in 2022 at the same time as Fergusson represented the men as well as being coached by Laidlaw and Luke.

“I worked with Laids with 7s a few years ago and he’s a great coach,” she explained. “I’m really excited to have him.

“I’ve worked with TL for the last couple of years and I’ve learned so much since I moved to Bristol, so really excited to work with him in camp and take our attack forward.”