As an uncapped player coming into a squad that has won its last six Tests, Corstorphine and Edinburgh Rugby’s Stewart knows it will be tricky to break into the Scottish matchday 23 between March 23 and April 27.
However, she really impressed wearing number seven on her back and carrying out the role of vice-captain for Edinburgh during the recent Celtic Challenge competition and Stewart seems the kind of character who thrives under pressure.
“I think it is a good challenge,” she said of trying to earn her first cap soon.
“There are so many good players and so many experienced players around this squad that I can learn from and I’ll just work hard and do my thing.
“I have always tried to model my game on the likes of Rachel Malcolm and Rachel McLachlan.
“I am maybe more aligned to Rachel McLachlan because of the way I play and the role she has is a role I am always trying to do when playing, so coming in I have asked her a lot of questions and she and Rachel Malcolm have both been very helpful with all of my queries.
“I also think I am here as much to learn as much to try and play, so the learning aspect is bigger in the long-term too.”
Stewart mentions Rachel Malcolm there and she admits it is strange calling the Scotland captain and other vastly experienced players her squad mates now having previously watched them on television.
“It’s a bit surreal,” the Edinburgh University second year law student said.
“You walk into camp for the first time and you don’t really know what to do, but then you soon realise they are just normal human beings and you can go and chat to them.
“But it is still quite gobsmacking, especially when you are talking to your family and people outside camp and you are just talking about ‘Rachel’ [Malcolm] like she is your friend!
“Getting selected for the wider squad, well I was not expecting that at all. I think the way I was playing for Edinburgh I was gunning to get in, but I wasn’t expecting it.
“It is nice to have a familiar face around in Merryn [Gunderson, another young Corstorphine and Edinburgh uncapped back-rower] and we have become closer friends over the last couple of years while we have been playing at club and with Edinburgh, so it is nice to have someone like her here.
“And, in general, it has been good so far, it has been quite exciting. No one really knows what you are going to step into, but everyone has been really welcoming, there has been a lot of detail that I’ve not been accustomed to so that is different, but really good.”
When she was a pupil at Liberton High School in the Scottish capital, Stewart took up rugby. She then played youth rugby for local clubs Lismore and Edinburgh Harlequins before she got dispensation at age 17 to play in the senior Premiership with Corstorphine.
Stewart has also played a bit of university rugby, but it was her form for Corstorphine in the first half of 2023/24 that earned her an Edinburgh call up for the expanded second season of the Celtic Challenge.
A run of regular games at a high level against Glasgow Warriors and Irish and Welsh sides between late December and earlier this month put her in the shop window and she grew in confidence as the weeks went on as her team finished second behind the Wolfhounds.
“I think going into the Celtic Challenge I didn’t really expect too much or really know what to expect especially because I’d been involved with the Thistles the year before and hadn’t performed as well as I would have liked,” she explained.
“It was nice to get a good run of games and put in some good performances. I didn’t think I would perform as well as I did, especially up against the bigger players and the players that already have international caps behind them and it was quite nice to think that I could compete at that level.
“I feel like I am used to making steps up quite often, but that’s okay because being in and around the Scotland squad has always been the goal.”
[Image: SRU,SNS]
