Where there’s a Wills there’s a way

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - MARCH 22: Scotland's Evie Wills arrives before during a Guinness Women's Six Nations match between Scotland and Wales at The Hive Stadium, on March 22, 2025, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

For Evie Wills, whose last Scotland cap (prior to the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations) came three years ago, her recovery from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury was an opportunity to showcase the positivity that exudes as soon as you meet her.

Having helped Scotland qualify for the 2021 Rugby World Cup, scoring her first international try in the tournament-reaching play-off against Colombia, versatile back Wills was part of the squad that headed to New Zealand for the showpiece event.

Pictured: Evie Wills in action for Scotland during an Autumn Test match between Scotland and Japan at what was DAM Health Stadium,  November 2021.

Whilst she didn’t get game time in the tournament, the experience was a life-affirming one. Taking time to travel around Australia, as part of her break from a vocational calling as a nurse, life and rugby were good.

It was in pre-season with Leicester Tigers for the 2023/24 season when Evie suffered her ACL rupture in an innocuous non-contact drill.

“I was lucky to go to the World Cup in New Zealand, I pushed my final placement back which meant missing the next Six Nations [2023], but thankfully I got to go to New Zealand. Two weeks before WXV that year, I did my ACL.

“There are many silver linings to it,” Evie says in typically positive fashion. “I was complaining so much about spreading myself thin so it was an opportunity to put everything into a long rehab process and try to come out of it better. It’s a year of my life I’ll never get back, and it sounds weird but I had a good time.

“There were so many things I wouldn’t have been able to do, like spending time with non-rugby friends. When you physically can’t be selected, it takes the sour taste out of your mouth about being left out. It sounds so strange but looking back, I made the most of it and I have no regrets.”

“I worked really hard on my strength. Match fitness is something that can only come with playing but I was never worried about my knee – I was more worried that I was just going to be really bad!

“I had a whole year off and a whole pre-season to prepare and felt good. I’ve never strapped the knee, it’s feeling really good and the rehab went so well that I have full confidence in it. I felt really strong in myself and in the last year I had time to work on the mechanics of my running and I’m faster for it.

“I had this thing of doing something every day that the future Evie would thank me for.”

It’s a mantra that we could all do well to adapt, but is it something that Evie thinks has benefitted her both as a player and a person?

“Yeah, probably. I want it more; I want to be here more. I’ve always wanted it but something like this makes you realise how much.

“Family is huge, they’re very humbling, my family. They don’t let you get too big for your boots which I love. My dad was the one who said: “Evie, there are people who literally cannot walk, who you’ve seen and treated. You’ll put the hard work in to do this again.”

“I count my lucky stars every day.”

Her first taste of Six Nations action having come way back in 2021, Evie was understandably thrilled at the prospect of running out in dark blue once more  – in front of thousands of supporters – more than ever. She added: “Everyone talks about their first caps and say how good it was with family there, and you see that across the game, across any sport, how wonderful that first cap is.

“It was a bit tainted by Covid, I couldn’t have my mum and dad or any family and friends there. After the game, which we lost, it was really anti-climactic because for me, I was so happy to have worked towards playing for my country but everyone around was upset [at the result].”

A fourth Scotland cap, and first since 2022, came when Evie was called upon from the bench in the round two match against France in this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations. The effervescent 24 year-old is back in the groove and loving it.

Pictured: Evie at team arrival for Scotland v Italy in this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations – her first such involvement in a number of years.