Lisa Thomson (born 7 September 1997) is a Scottish rugby union player, who captained for Scotland Women in 2018–19. She plays for Scotland and was vice-captain for the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring England women's national rugby union team, England, France women's national rugby union te ...

Club career

Thomson rose up through the ranks playing for East of Scotland under-18s, Scotland under-18 and under-20. She was part of a team that won the

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under-15 Cup in 2012 when she played for

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits n ...

under-15s. She also played for Murrayfield Wanderers under-18s, before joining Melrose Ladies. She was awarded the Keri Holdsworth Player of the Match when Edinburgh beat St Andrew's in the Varsity Cup in 2015. She signed her first professional contract in 2017 with the SRU to play in France for French club Lille Metropole Rugby Club Villeneuvois (LMRCV) for the season of 2017–18, alongside fellow Scottish player Chloe Rollie. This provided significant opportunities for their progression in the sport and was the first contract of its kind for Scottish female players. Following this, she returned to Edinburgh to finish her studies, while playing for DMP Sharks.

International career

Thomson made her international debut against England at Broadwood in the 2016 Six Nations opener. She is a Scottish Rugby-supported player, who was the captain for Scotland Women for the 2018/19 season. When Scotland beat Italy in the Women's Six Nations Championship of 2017, Thomson played a key role, setting up the home side's first try for Chloe Rollie, helping the team fight back from 12–0 down to secure a 14–12 victory. Thomson was selected to travel to South Africa with Scotland Women in their first ever tour and their first ever matches in the Southern Hemisphere in 2019, where they obtained two victories. She is vice-captain for the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship. The team lost to England and Italy, before beating Wales 27–20 to claim fifth place in the championship. Scotland captain of the 2021 Women's Six Nations, Rachel Malcolm, said of her teammate, “For me Lisa is probably the most well-rounded rugby player we have in our Scotland team. She leads so well in terms of organising the game and she has a brilliant rugby head and an unbelievable skillset." She turned professional in 2016, when she was enlisted as a Stage Three player in the BT Sport

Scottish Rugby Academy The Scottish Rugby Academy, for sponsorship reasons the Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy, is a national academy structure designed to give Scotland's young rugby stars a pathway into the professional game. The academy structure is based on 4 region ...

. In 2022, she was captain at the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup. and

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. In June 2024, she was named in the British squad for the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. The team finished seventh. She was named in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

's squad for the

2025 Six Nations Championship The 2025 Men's Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons and branded as M6N) was a rugby union competition that took place from late January to mid-March 2025, featuring the men's national teams of E ...

Personal life

A former pupil of Trinity Primary School and Hawick High School, Thomson got involved with rugby at 5-years-of-age playing for the Robbie Dyes in Hawick, and then played through primary school with Jedburgh minis. The town of Hawick is known for its community's passion for rugby and she frequently watched matches with her parents while growing up. She played at Langholm youth sections, then a season for Murrayfield Wanderers U18s. This was followed by two seasons for Melrose Ladies at 17, playing her first senior rugby there. She moved on to play for

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

, while studying applied sports science there, before interrupting her studies to move to

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, France for one season. She also spent time playing

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for junior clubs but has stated in interviews that she preferred rugby as a contact sport. She is also a community coach at

Lismore RFC Lismore RFC is a rugby union side based in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were founded in 1901.Official ...

's youth programme, the Edinburgh Harlequins.

Honours

* Keri Holdsworth Player of the Match (Edinburgh vs St Andrew's, Varsity Cup, 2015). * Won the

British Universities and Colleges Sport British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS; ) is the sports governing body, governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2008, BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the United King ...

(BUCS) Premier North League (2017, BUCS 7s and BUCS Championship with Edinburgh University). * Semi Final of the Top 8 in 2017 with Lille Metropole Rugby Club Villeneuvois. * HSBC World Series Qualifiers Finalists 2019.

References

External links

Lisa Thomson at Scottish Rugby
* * * *
Lisa Thomson
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...