With the rising profile of the women’s game, rugby is showing itself to be a sport that can step away from the traditional stereotype of knuckle-dragging neanderthals.
Another aspect of this inclusivity is the growing appeal of wheelchair rugby which returns to the spotlight in 2024 as an integral part of the Paralympics where it has held full medal status since Sydney in 2000.
This should suit the hosts France who were runners-up to England in the last World Cup and earlier this year took gold in the European championships in Cardiff.
Scottish hopes, however, will rest on having their players picked in the Great Britain squad alongside the English and Welsh.
One player with genuine hopes of a call-up is Warrington Wolves’ Callum Young whose recent performances secured him the Scotland Player of the Year for 2022 and, oddly, a call-up to the England squad for this year’s European championships.
Young resisted the call to switch to the world champions in order to press forward with Scotland.
The sport, which is played in chairs specially designed to withstand the bone-rattling impacts, has 25 countries participating in international competition.
In the meantime Callum and his teammates will be launching themselves into some full-throated renditions of “Flower of Scotland” as Gregor Townsend’s team look to build on their fine recent form at the Rugby World Cup in France.
The Scots finished third in the Six Nations behind champions Ireland and runners-up France and recorded a third successive Calcutta Cup win over the auld enemy England.
They are, however, in a very tough Pool B where they will be up against the Irish and defending World Cup champions South Africa as well as Tonga and Romania.
It will take something special if they are to equal their performance in 1991 when the reached the semi-finals, only to lose to the English.
++ Ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France, Agence France-Presse asked 20 aspiring photographers from each country qualified for the competition to show one aspect of the rugby union culture in their homeland, with the help of Canon cameras who are sponsoring the tournament. From Namibia to Fiji via Georgia and Scotland this photo essay gives us a glimpse of the core values of rugby on five continents.
