14/11/2025
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Rheo Laurenson is loving her first season playing for Highland Rugby Football Club and says there is a “good energy and good buzz” in the squad as they prepare for a big game in Arnold Clark Women’s Caledonia North One this coming weekend.
On Saturday they will be travelling to Lochaber to play in the second leg of the Two P’s Cup fixture while a bonus point triumph would also see Highland clinch the league title.
There is a long-standing competition between Highland and Lochaber men for the Two Ronnies Cup which was set up between Ronnie Bremner and Ronnie Young.
And now former Highland president Graham Findlater and ex-Lochaber president Charlie Donaldson have set up the women’s Two P’s Cup named after their wives Patsy and Pauline.
In early October, Highland won the first leg 52-0 and will now want to finish the job off on aggregate and, if all goes to plan for them, they could be lifting two trophies come Saturday evening.
They will purely be focusing on the game in front of them come kick-off time though and centre Laurenson said: “I think we showed Lochaber what we could do last time we met, however, we are preparing for a tough game this weekend and are certainly not taking anything for granted especially with the game being on their home turf.
“As we do every game, we are focused on us and what we can do to prepare and play well.
“I think the biggest statement that the team has made this season is that, after just four games, we had scored more than twice the number of points than in all of last season’s league games combined.
“That’s a lot of points and the points are coming from players everywhere in the squad. I think other teams in the league will agree that we have ramped up a gear. The squad has grown leaps and bounds over the season.
Laurenson, who has just completed a BSc in paramedic practice and is now a paramedic away from the pitch, is from Shetland originally and began her rugby journey there in 2014-15.
“Living on the island I was privileged growing up to be exposed to just about every sport going. After horse riding, swimming, football and hockey, I decided to give rugby a go after watching a men’s game on TV. I attended a session with Shetland and caught the bug immediately.
“Spells at Inverness Craig Dunain and Garioch followed and in 2017 I was picked for the Scotland under-20s and spent a year trying to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible.
“In total I spent seven years at Garioch a player/backs coach as they made their way up to the Premiership.
“During the end of that time I was invited to play for the Rugby People select squad at the Chester Sevens. It was a huge step out my comfort zone, but a great opportunity to play alongside some extremely talented Premiership players including some from Corstorphine Cougars.”
As a result of that, Laurenson played for two and a half seasons with the Cougars in the top flight and travelled down from the north east to play games while training with the Moray men’s team twice a week.
“I met some of the best people, players and coaches at Cougars who pushed me every week to be better while training with the Moray guys was also good,” she stated.
“Highlights at Cougars were reaching the Premiership final and scoring the opening try at Murrayfield at the Sarah Beaney Cup final against Watsonians both in 2022-23. Two silvers that season, but I had a blast.”
After taking some time out from the game in 2024 as her studies intensified, Laurenson was always keen to get her boots back on when she could and she has certainly not regretted joining Highland for this campaign I which they have won six, drawn one and lost one league game so far.
“This is my first season at Highland and I have been accepted into the squad so well, the whole team are absolutely brilliant on and off the pitch,” she concluded.
“The team has such a good energy and good buzz about it so it makes it really easy to be a part of things and put my body on the line for the group every week.”
* A version of this article first appeared in The Press and Journal on Thursday *
