In our first instalment for Women’s History Month in March, we’re celebrating the players who have done extraordinary things in the women’s game and whilst at it, secured over a century of caps for their country. First up, Donna Kennedy.
Donna Kennedy was the epitome of tough and durable. Between 1993 and 2006 she started in 95 of Scotland’s first 100 Tests.
The following year she came out of retirement and became the first Scottish international male or female to reach a century of caps, eventually finishing her career with 115 appearances.
“My 100th Test was against France, always a great team to play, on March 18, 2007,” Kennedy told RugbyPass.
“I tried to treat it as any other game but in the back of your mind you know it’s special, and it was a great game, physical, and only a few points in it.
“I remember being hoisted on my team mates shoulders afterwards holding a Scottish flag that had ‘Donna 100 caps’ written on it.
“We celebrated with some classic French hospitality and the Scottish Rugby Union was good about it. My first, 75th, and 100th Test jerseys reside at the Thistle Room at Murrayfield Stadium alongside Sean Lamont, Ross Ford, and Chris Patterson, the only males to play 100 tests for Scotland.”
Kennedy was born in Lanark on February 16, 1972 and grew up playing hockey and athletics. When Kennedy started playing rugby aged 19, Scotland didn’t even have a national team. That changed in 1993 when they tussled with Ireland in their first international.
“It was Valentine’s Day 1993, at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh – actually where the first ever game of international rugby took place in 1871. There was a big crowd, even some on the roof of the property nearby. We won 10-0. I can’t remember who got the first try but I’ll get in trouble if I claim it,” Kennedy joked.
It was Scottish captain and halfback Sandra Colamartino who scored both tries. Scotland won their first 14 meetings against Ireland, holding the Irish scoreless in half of those tests.
The year after, the 1994 World Cup was set to kick off, and it was anything but official. In the second hosting of the event, it was due to be held in Amsterdam in April but was canceled less than a month before the first match. The official reason for the cancellation was that the event organisers failed to get the official endorsement of the event as the “Women’s World Cup” from the International Rugby Board (IRB).
The minutes of the 1993 Interim meeting of the IRB state the following about the “1994 Women’s International Tournament: “The Council agreed to defer consideration of participation by member unions in the tournament until such time as a formal request is received from the organisers.”
Because of this, the Unions of some countries decided not to pay team expenses, including New Zealand, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.
Scotland decided they would run the tournament at the last minute. An astute and determined organising committee spearheaded by Sue Brodie, Sandra Colamartino, Sarah Floate, Jan Rowlands, and Maureen Sharp, utilised their professional and personal networks to keep the costs down and, in a reverse of the finances of the 1991 World Cup, the 1994 tournament turned a profit.
The Rugby World Cup was renamed ‘The Women’s Rugby World Championship,’ to avoid any legal issues from the IRB who owned the trademarked ‘Rugby World Cup’ title.
Eventually, 11 of the original 16 entrants took part while a Scottish Students team, Russia, and Kazakhstan were added.
Scotland lost to Wales (0-8) in the quarter-finals but rallied to defeat Ireland (10-3) and Canada (11-5) to capture the Shield.It was not until 2009 that the IRB officially endorsed the event as a “World Cup.”
“Teams slept on the floors of pubs, billeted with each other, and just found a way to get it done. I remember the tournament being well-supported. It’s fair to say Scotland saved the World Cup,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy would go on to make a record 22 World Cup appearances for Scotland between 1994 and 2010. Scotland won 11 games in that period with Kennedy at her best against World Champions New Zealand.
“In 2006 I remember lining up against New Zealand and facing the Haka. Rugby is deeply ingrained in New Zealand so facing the haka was stirring, a unique opportunity,” Kennedy said.
“It was really close in the first half because I think they underestimated us, but then they brought on their big guns and won 21-0. It was a physical encounter and I got player of the match. It was one of my favourite games.
“I loved the physical and strategic aspects of the game. I had no fear and always trained in the same way I played so some of our training sessions got heated as it was so competitive. I always considered it a badge of honour leaving the field with a black eye and bruises.
“To be a successful loose forward you need that ruthless mindset. You can’t be half-hearted in my opinion.”
The 1998 Home Nations championship was Kennedy’s favourite international experience. For the only time in their history, Scotland captured the Grand Slam. They beat Ireland (15-0), Wales (22-12) and England (8-5) at Inverleith, home of Scottish Rugby from 1899 to 1925. A framed team photograph of Scotland celebrating that victory hangs proudly in Kennedy’s lounge room.
“It was such a tight game between two big, strong packs. They had threats out wide too, so we had to be cautious.
“Scotland versus England always brings out the best in both teams. I don’t like admitting it but England has been the benchmark for such a long time so wherever we get a crack we rise to the occasion.”
Women’s Rugby: A Newspaper in History reported: “Scotland were not flattered one bit by the final score line…Most of England’s problems lay in the pack, where they lacked the coordination of their opponents.”
Scottish captain Kim Littlejohn scored the first try only for England to respond. Late in the match, Paula Chambers kicked a penalty for Scotland inside the English 22 after number eight Gill Burns was penalised for overzealous rucking.
Burns is a fellow World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee. She played 74 Tests for England and was ranked by Kennedy as one of her most respected opponents alongside other Hall of Fame members Maggie Alphonsi (England), Lisa Burgess (Wales), and Black Fern Rochelle Martin who won 31 of her 32 internationals.
In 2024 Kennedy became World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Number 170. “It’s like the damehood of rugby, isn’t it? Getting that email through to tell me the news, it was just like ‘Wow!’. It feels so surreal but it’s such an honour,” she told the Scotland Rugby website.
Kennedy most enjoyed playing alongside Jeni Sheerin, Lee Cockburn, Paula Chambers, and Beth Macleod. The quartet are important and durable pioneers of Scottish women’s rugby.
Sheerin was capped 69 times in the back row and runs a successful carpet business. Chambers was a halfback and Scottish hockey international who became Scotland’s leading points scorer in World Cups with 64. She presently resides in Australia.Her brother Craig Chambers played 60 Tests for Scotland.
Macleod was a veteran development officer for women’s rugby in Scotland who now runs her consultancy business. Cockburn played 77 Tests at lock and is a lifeguard making 45 rescues one year. She has since become a leading crime writer.
Kennedy is perhaps the most respected figure in Scottish women’s rugby, and having spent 33 years in the Veterinary profession alongside her rugby career, significant milestones have elapsed on the rugby pitch.
In 2001 she was a member of the Scottish team that won the FIRA European Championship. Scotland beat Wales (13-3), France (9-6) and Spain (15-3) en route to the title.
In 2002 she was a part of the first Scottish team that played an international at Murrayfield, defeating Sweden 34-3. In 2004 she was named IRB Women’s Player of the Year, a year later passing Gregor Townsend’s record for most Scottish caps with 82.
In 2007 she captained her side against Wales in a narrow 0-10 defeat. In 2015, the Donna Kennedy Cup, an annual top-level women’s rugby competition, was launched in her honour. In 2017, she was inducted into Scotland’s Rugby Hall of Fame.
“It’s amazing how much the game has changed since I started playing. Heaven Forbid, I was around when you couldn’t lift in the lineouts and we could watch that on VHS,” Kennedy laughed.
“I’m still involved a lot with coaching and was co-founder of the Scottish Thistles which is designed to connect past, present, and future Scottish women’s players.
“We missed out on the World Cup for a dozen years between 2010 and 2022. For a long time, we were guilty of having nothing underneath. We’re trying to get that right now with better building blocks in place at the grassroots.
“What England has done is a model for securing the growth and future of the women’s game.”
