Scotland international Rhona Lloyd sits second in the PWR try-scoring standings in her first season back in England after a four-year spell with Stade Bordelais in France.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Burrell (Charlie Burrell Instagram)

The 29-year-old winger, joined Sale Sharks in the summer and has become a linchpin of the club’s best season since they were formed in 2020.

Currently in fifth place, the Sharks have won four consecutive league games for the first time in their history. Lloyd has scored eleven tries this season, just one behind the league’s top scorer Saracens’ May Campbell.

“I’ve been taking it game by game since the World Cup (in September) and I’m probably at a place in my career for the first time where I’m not sure what the next major tournament is and what I’m chasing.

“But that allows you to be really present which is such a nice place to be in and it’s so liberating.”

This freedom is something which the Scot has always possessed. Growing up in Edinburgh, not ‘too far’ from Murrayfield, Lloyd’s childhood was filled with trips to watch the men playing alongside her Welsh rugby-loving Dad.

However, without any visible female role models, Lloyd struggled to see a future for herself in the game so immersed herself in a variety of sports from basketball to athletics.

During her time at Tynecastle High School the former Scottish international, Sarah Quick, came to give a taster session.

“I just loved it from there,” said Lloyd.

“Once I turned 16, I was involved with the Scotland Under 20s, and then it got quite serious quite quickly. I guess that [taster] session is what kind of led me down that path.”

Now a role model for the next generation, Lloyd admits she feels indebted to those who came before and stresses the importance of ‘paying their efforts forward’.

Under Quick’s guidance, Lloyd took to the field like a duck to water, picking up the ball and sprinting the length of the school field.

With eleven tries in just thirteen games this season, the winger attributes her prolific form to rediscovering the freedom she felt playing as a young girl.

“When I feel confident or when I’m playing my best, it’s probably weirdly when I care the least about rugby.

“When I take that pressure off my shoulders and remember why I started playing, which ultimately was because it was fun and I was with my friends, that’s what it feels like now.”

After a disappointing World Cup, which saw Scotland bow out in the quarter-finals against eventual Champions England, Lloyd was unsure what the future held.

“I thought I was going to retire after the World Cup, I just wasn’t enjoying my rugby. I was in France and knew that I needed a change.

“I was looking up surf camps and things that were absolutely nothing to do with rugby. But [teammate] Lisa Thompson, told me to give it one more crack in the PWR. And it’s the best possible thing I could have done.”

After a period of transition this summer, the Sharks are reaping the rewards of new coaching staff alongside multiple high-profile player recruitments.

Winning their fourth successive league game with a dominant 62-3 victory against Leicester on Saturday, Lloyd believes her return to England has been ‘perfect’.

“This group wants to create more history. We want to take Sale Sharks to places they’ve never been before in terms of where they are in the table and in terms of consecutive wins.

“It’s the result of a lot of hard work, not just this season, but over a number of years. And it’s really cool to be here and be living in that time where it’s starting to pay off.”

Photos courtesy of Charlie Burrell (Charlie Burrell Instagram)