Fran McGhie needed less than a minute of World Cup rugby to get a first try before completing the first hat-trick of England 2025.
The Scotland winger was still working in a school three years ago when the last World Cup took place in New Zealand, but has since established herself as one of the most dangerous attacking threats among the home nations.
And the 22-year-old showed exactly what a finisher she is on the opening weekend of the Women’s Rugby World Cup with a hat-trick in Scotland’s record 38-8 win over Wales.
That success puts the Scots in a strong position to get out of the pool stages, three years on from a winless campaign.
And McGhie admitted she could not have asked for more from her World Cup debut.
She said: “I've not scored a hat-trick in a Scotland jersey and I think only one in my club jersey. So I was very proud of that, but I think they were just well-worked team tries.
“As a team, we just knew from the second we got to the changing rooms, put the jerseys on, stepped outside and kicked off, I think we really felt it and we knew exactly what we needed to do and we absolutely delivered on that.
“We didn’t think it was going to be easy against the Welsh, it’s always a close game. We knew what we needed to get out of the game and we absolutely performed on that.
“We spoke about a fast start – the Welsh have always got that in the bag as well. We said let’s get the first score and play from there, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Monaghan back in the nick of time
Sam Monaghan spent more than a year on the sidelines after tearing her ACL in club action but the Ireland second row has made it back in time for the World Cup and enjoyed her comeback against Japan.
Having featured in the warm-up matches for Scott Bemand’s team, the Gloucester Hartpury lock then co-captained Ireland in a 42-14 win over Japan that sets them up nicely in a pool that also features defending champions New Zealand.
And Monaghan admitted that there was some relief to be back up to speed just in time for the tournament.
She said: “It is an amazing moment. I am very grateful that the timing aligned with the World Cup.
“I am grateful to the people around me and the support staff to get me this far.
“It has been a massive driver for me. I remember doing these awful hill sessions up in the High Performance Centre and in my head, I was just thinking about being on the pitch and what I can do. I am lucky it has paid off.
“It was great to see the support today in the crowd. That roar, it brings along game-changing moments.
“The amount of money spent on flights, taxis, and trains. We are so grateful to have that support here and hopefully the same again next week.”
Red Roses lay down a marker
Hosts and favourites England kicked off the World Cup in style as they ran in 11 tries in a 69-7 win over the USA in front of a record crowd for a Women’s World Cup game.
More than 42,000 people showed up at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland for the game with Ellie Kildunne living up to her billing as one of the most entertaining players in the game, scoring two tries and setting up two more for back-three colleague Jess Breach.
Meanwhile, Meg Jones enjoyed a fine outing on her return to the World Cup stage – having last featured as a 21-year-old in the 2017 final defeat to New Zealand.
Since then, Jones has enjoyed a fine career in sevens before returning to 15s after the last World Cup.
Now established as a first-choice option in the Red Roses midfield, Jones is adamant that there is a lot more to come from the side after their strong start.
“We can be a lot better. We want to be ruthless and I told the girls we could have scored a few more,” said Jones.
“We are leaning into this being a home World Cup – we need to put on a show. We want to be ambitious and keep the ball alive as much as possible. We just need to be relentless against teams and really build pressure on them.
"There were things we could have done better but I thought some of our rugby was beautiful.
"We just need to improve our last pass, sometimes we just need to be a bit more patient. We are getting into the right areas but perhaps we can be more ruthless.
"We are here to win – it’s not about individuals or what the scoreline looks like.
"We’ve got depth and we’re still looking at combinations. We’ve a long way to go and we’ll need to bank on everyone in the squad.”
The second round of pool games this weekend will see Wales look to bounce back against Canada, while Scotland face Fiji looking to build on their opening victory.
Meanwhile England take on Samoa and Ireland face Spain as they try to make it two from two and potentially clinch a spot in the quarter-finals with a game to spare.
