00:00now we spoke with scotland's dynamic winger rona lloyd who shared her thoughts on the evolving
00:08landscape of women's rugby and her personal ambitions now for her resilience and electric
00:14presence on the field lloyd offered insight into the growth of the sport and her hopes for the
00:20future so rona let's start with the world cup and the incredible impact that it had i mean what did
00:28the tournament sort of show you about how far uh women's rugby has come in terms of quality and
00:33public support that viewing that it got you know really sort of fulfilled the major tournament that
00:38it wanted to be yeah absolutely i think england does women's sport really well which i think put a
00:44little bit of expectation on this world cup we've been saying for for months that it's going to be
00:48the biggest one ever but i think it really even exceeded all of those expectations the tournament
00:52was absolutely fantastic to finish it with 82 000 at a sold out twickenham the last world cup
00:58those 40 000 at the final the one before that was 20 000 so the growth in women's rugby has really
01:02been astronomical and in all the whole cities i think people really got behind women's rugby they
01:08got behind the red roses but they also just got behind the game that there wasn't a a quiet stand
01:13throughout the whole tournament it was so inspiring to be part of and hopefully for for anybody that
01:17was there as a spectator as well the 2025 women's rugby world cup marked a major milestone showcasing the
01:25game on an unprecedented scale with england securing their third title the tournament drew over 400 000
01:31spectators many experiencing women's rugby for the first time for players like lloyd this increased
01:38visibility is a clear signal of growing recognition and support for women's rugby creating opportunities
01:45both on and off the field yeah i mean as you say there england do uh women's sport incredibly well
01:52you obviously had the the women's football euros as well that that going on and then you know you
01:56have the olympic games where you get so many women role models i mean women's sport has changed so
02:01much over the last sort of you know 15 16 17 years or so um you know that's that must be incredible
02:07for you to be in this era where you are appreciated and you are looked up to as a woman in sport you know
02:13um how important is it that those guys who came before you have sort of uh laid that groundwork that
02:18the women before you and maybe didn't get the the support and uh you know credit that they possibly
02:23deserved yeah i think that's a bit when i when i play that's a big why of of i guess the people i want
02:30to make proud it's the players that have come before me in a scotland jersey but also in any jersey for
02:35for any country at women's rugby because it's taken a long time to to get to where we are today i think
02:40the women were always there playing rugby we just couldn't see it and now that people have this access
02:45i feel like there's a massive debt owed to the last generation that we can never repay them but we
02:50can only pay it forward to the next generation and and keep fighting to to make the game even better
02:55and hopefully soon we're not talking about eight two thousand twickenham being a one-off match we're
03:00talking about that being every six nations match and that when the red roses play twickenham that's
03:05a crowd that we see so yeah i think i can't do enough justice to the the people that have made
03:10this possible who have been playing since the first world cup in 1990 lord herself has left an
03:15indeliable mark on the sport her performances helped scotland reach the world cup quarterfinals
03:21for the first time since 2002 demonstrating both her talent and determination looking ahead she is
03:29determined to be part of history once more by joining the british and irish lions
03:33on their inaugural women's tour to new zealand in 2027 with strong backing for this landmark tour
03:40lloyd sees us as a chance to inspire the next generation while continuing to elevate the profile
03:46of women's rugby and obviously the women's lions tour i mean that just sort of shows how
03:53um the game has grown to have that first tour what's that going to be like for you in terms of
03:58the countdowns on you want to make sure you're in the mix um i mean that's so exciting to have that
04:03sort of target on the horizon yeah it's massively exciting for everybody playing the game i think
04:08before we had the world cup every four years as as these landmark events and women's rugby and
04:12opportunities to grow the game whereas actually now that we're going to have the british and irish
04:17lions women's tours every two years in between that is is going to be incredible in terms of the eyes
04:23that we can get on women's rugby all the way through to the elite level there's more and more girls
04:27playing so we need to make sure that the facilities are there to make that possible
04:30through her achievements and ambitions rena lloyd embodies the spirit of progress in the sport
04:37representing both its current momentum and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead
04:43so
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