Rhona Lloyd (born 17 October 1996) is a Scottish professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player from

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. She has played in multiple Women's Six Nations Championships, including 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 ...

. She collected 25 caps for Scotland before the age of 23.

Club career

Lloyd plays for

Loughborough Lightning Loughborough Lightning may refer to one of three women's sports teams based at Loughborough University: * Loughborough Lightning (netball) * Loughborough Lightning (cricket) * Loughborough Lightning (rugby union) {{disambiguation ...

, alongside internationally recognised players including

Emily Scarratt Emily Beth Scarratt (born 8 February 1990) is an England, English rugby union player. She currently plays Centre (rugby union), centre and Fullback (rugby union), fullback for Loughborough Lightning (rugby union), Loughborough Lightning and fo ...

and England captain

Sarah Hunter Sarah Alice Hunter (born 19 September 1985) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. She represented at four Rugby World Cups. At the 2021 Rugby World Cup, Hunter received her 138th international cap, passing Rochelle Clark to bec ...

. The ''Daily Telegraph'' described her as a "try-scoring sensation" in November 2019, after she scored 10 tries in just six league appearances in the Tyrrells Premier 15s. While at Edinburgh University, she played rugby for the women's team, winning the final of BUCs at Twickenham in her final year. She captained Murrayfield Wanderers U18 to victory in the Brewin Dolphin Cup.

International career

Lloyd played sevens for Scotland Women U19 and U20 in season 2013/14. She made her full international debut against England in the 2016 Women's Six Nations opener at

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...

. Lloyd scored her first international try in the 2016 Six Nations finale against Ireland in Dublin and her second in the Rugby World Cup qualifier against Spain in Madrid in November 2016. The wing contributed to Scotland Women's 15-14 win against Wales in the 2017 Women's Six Nations with a second-half try. After a shoulder injury set back her progress in 2018 she returned to the starting line for the

2019 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2019 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring six European rugby union national teams. Matches were held in February and March 2019, on the ...

. Lloyd played in the 2019 South African tour, in which the Scottish team won two of its matches, playing for the first time in the Southern hemisphere. She played in the

2020 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2020 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition contested by six European rugby union national teams. Matches were originally scheduled for February ...

, which was disrupted due to COVID-19. She was also part of the squad for the

, alongside Loughborough Lighting teammates Rachel Malcolm, Leah Bartlett, Jenny Maxwell and Helen Nelson. 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

Lloyd began playing rugby after Scotland international player Sarah Quick came to her school in Edinburgh to lead a taster session. First taking up rugby at Tynecastle High School at age 16 as the only girl in her school playing rugby. She then worked her way through the age grades. Outside rugby was in the top 100 in the UK at the 60m sprint. She studied biomedical sciences at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and undertook a Masters at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

, while doing an analyst internship with British Athletics. Lloyd also co-hosts a podcast titled “Women Who Sport” with Loughborough and Scotland team-mate Sarah Bonar. She has commented on the issues relating to body image for sportswomen: "I play a physical sport. You need to have some muscle behind you so it's getting over that mental block and embracing that. Now being strong is really cool. I want to be that role model that I didn't have."

References

External links

Rhona Lloyd Scottish Rugby Profile PageRhona Lloyd Loughborough Lightning Profile Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Rhona 1996 births Living people Rugby union players from Edinburgh Scotland women's international rugby union players Scottish female rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games British women podcasters Rugby sevens players at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in rugby sevens European Games gold medalists for Great Britain Alumni of Loughborough University Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Scotland Scotland international women's rugby sevens players People educated at Tynecastle High School Rugby union wings Loughborough Lightning rugby union players Scottish expatriate rugby union players in France British podcasters 21st-century Scottish sportswomen