Sarah Bonar: 'It has been great to be back in a Scotland shirt'

Sarah Bonar has fond memories of playing against Japan in WXV 2 action in South Africa and the Scotland second-rower is keen to make more good memories this weekend.

Last year in Cape Town the Scots defeated South Africa and USA in the inaugural tournament to kick things off, but Harlequins player Bonar was left kicking her heels up in the stands due to back spasms.

Intensive rehab meant that she was fit enough for a place on the bench for the final match against Japan at the Athlone Sports Stadium and, after coming on in the 48th minute, she went on to have a big impact on the game.

With Scotland chasing points in that second period, Bonar plucked a chip kick out of the sky around the halfway line and then ran and ran and ran to score a try and then be mobbed by her teammates.

“It is all a bit of a blur really,” she laughed about the score that was part of a 38-7 triumph for the Scots that eventually helped them win the inaugural title from Italy on points difference.

“I just remember thinking ‘There is a kick I might as well see if I can reach it’ and so I grabbed it and then thought I need to run now!

“In the run-up to the game I had tweaked my back and one of the things I had been struggling with was opening up and striding so I’d had a chat with the physio and said if I got the ball we’d play things low-key and play a passing game and would not think about opening up too much - and then in one of my first instances on the ball there was no other option but to go!

“It was class and it was a nice one to score.”

The television commentators at the time said that she ‘turned on the afterburners’ and was ‘running on clouds’, but Bonar, now 30, stated: “I can confirm it definitely didn’t feel like I was running on clouds!

“I was just fortunate enough in that I had just come off the bench and I had fresh legs in comparison to everyone else so I managed to get into that extra gear.”

Since WXV 2 in 2023, Aberdonian Bonar started the Six Nations opener this year in Wales but went off with a shoulder injury and missed the rest of the competition.

As a result, she has been delighted to start all three of Scotland’s recent games - versus Wales and Fiji in warm-up Test wins in Edinburgh and then last week’s 19-0 WXV 2 opening win over Italy at the DH Stadium - and the former rower now has 40 caps to her name.

“It has been great to be back in a Scotland shirt and it is something I never take for granted,” she explained.

“I started my rugby journey with Rach [Malcolm, the Scotland captain] and with her reaching 50 caps last week we have been talking about those times a lot recently.

“We both started out pretty clueless [in 2015], but we’d come from good sporting backgrounds myself from rowing and Rach from hockey. We had been used to good training, we were conditioned and it was just all about trying to learn the game.

“Lichfield at the time was a pretty star-studded team, so we were learning from the likes of Emily Scarratt, Mo Hunt and Emily Braun and we had absolute strength in depth around us.

“That learning curve just peaked quite quickly. Learning from the best in the game certainly helped going into our first caps against Spain in 2016 and the start of our rugby journey together was special.

“With Rach having reached 50 caps I’d definitely love to do the same, but I try not to look at it [the numbers] as anything can happen in rugby.

“I just take each cap as it comes, the next is just as special as the last. If I get there, sweet, happy days, but for now it’s just each game as it comes as I say.”

With that mantra of not looking too far ahead, Bonar and co are not even thinking about a potential title showdown with Australia on October 12 and all their focus is on Japan at the Athlone Sports Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

“I think immediate reflections after Italy were that we got the job done, however, we left a lot out there. We were in their ‘22’ for quite a significant proportion of the match and we didn’t execute or potentially come away with as many points as we could have done,” Bonar, who starts with Louise McMillan in the second row this week, explained.

“We’ve had three games now in the run-up to Japan, all different challenges and I think even Japan pose a different threat again. They are really skilful, get the ball wide and we’ve got to be switched on in defending that different style.

The forwards know we’ve got to set the platform for the backs to play off and we know Japan are an extremely disciplined and well-drilled team.

“We want to focus on what we bring and not go away from our game plan. We are looking forward to the game.”