Women’s Scottish Thistles team selected for Melrose Sevens

Cruikshank will be joined by former GB7s player Ross McCann to make up the coaching team.

A young squad has been selected, with 11 of the 12 involved in Scotland age-grade sides in the XVs game this year.

Bethan Mathieson represented Scotland U18 in the U18 Six Nations Festival in Wellington, while Megan Hyland captained a Scotland U21 squad that featured Ceitidh Ainsworth, Emily Love, Hannah Ramsay, Lisa Brown, Lucy MacRae, Nicole Flynn, Poppy Mellanby and Sky Phimister.

Ainsworth and Ramsay were also in the wider training squad for the senior side during the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

All 12 of the players in the squad featured for either Glasgow Warriors or Edinburgh Rugby in the 2025/26 Celtic Challenge.

Phimister and Flynn, alongside Cieron Bell, will bring experience in the 7s arena from recent GB7s selections to the group.

Scottish Thistles will play in a round robin format against Monaco Umusa, Melrose 1883, Hearts & Balls MB and Shogun Rugby, with the best two teams making the final.

The men’s Scottish Thistles will also be in action. Read here for more information.

Claire Cruikshank said: “This is a great opportunity for some of our young players to experience a different environment and test their skills in fast-paced sevens games. Everything happens quicker, your passing skills have got to be faster and more on point and you have to be comfortable making individual tackles in lots of space. It really tests your ability in those areas and these players can then bring that back to the XVs game.

“Having Cieron, Sky and Nicole who have been in GB7s camps learning from some seasoned sevens players is great for them, and hopefully they can bring that experience and be real leaders in our young group this weekend.

“It’s also fantastic to have Ross McCann coaching with me and passing on all his experience in the game. We’re both looking forward to seeing what our squad can do.”

Scottish Thistles squad for Melrose Women’s Sevens

Bethan Mathieson (Heriots / Edinburgh Rugby)
Ceitidh Ainsworth (Stirling County / Glasgow Warriors)
Cieron Bell (Watsonian FC / Edinburgh Rugby)
Emily Love (Watsonian FC / Edinburgh Rugby)
Hannah Ramsay (Watsonian FC / Edinburgh Rugby)
Lisa Brown (University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh Rugby)
Lucy MacRae (University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh Rugby)
Megan Hyland (Heriots / Glasgow Warriors)
Nicole Flynn (University of Edinburgh / Glasgow Warriors)
Nicole Marlow (Watsonian FC / Edinburgh Rugby)
Poppy Mellanby (University of Edinburgh / Glasgow Warriors)
Sky Phimister (Stirling County / Glasgow Warriors)

Where to watch?

The tournament will be streamed live on YouTube