It took a six-minute conversation to effectively end Jade Konkel’s 13-year Scotland career. Of the 32 players in their World Cup squad, just 15 had contracts offered before the World Cup started. The rest were in purgatory. Konkel was not one of the 15.
In Konkel’s case, in her talk with “people who are higher up” at the Scottish Rugby Union, she was told the decision not to award her another contract was a performance-related decision. “That was interesting as I was player of the season at Harlequins,” she said through a rueful smile on Sunday. The depth chart, and individual circumstance, were floated as other reasons.
All that, summed up in six minutes.
Six minutes for 74 caps.
“That’s the bit which doesn’t sit well with me,” she said, an hour or so after England had ended Scotland’s World Cup hopes and Konkel’s career.
Konkel, a firefighter, was Scotland’s first contracted women’s player back in 2016. That chapter closed in the Ashton Gate downpour. By the time she had emptied the tank for 47 minutes and with Scotland 33-0 down at the time, she knew this was her final match in Scottish colours as on Friday she announced she would retire from Test duty after this World Cup. Lisa Cockburn — who missed the match due to a head knock — also announced her retirement. But Konkel’s pre-emptive move saw her take control of her own end date, finishing on her terms, and not be one of the many who lose their international careers into the wilderness having seen their name missing from a squad list.
On Sunday, she put in a typical Konkel performance, her own well-being secondary to the collective cause. The tears broke through after she was substituted off, but those moments of self-reflection and the individual feeling of sporting loss were momentary, soon they were supressed for the bigger cause and legacy, as she used her final interviews as a Scotland player to send a message to the powers that be.
“It’s been a tough couple of months with all of us getting bombshells dropped on us right before a World Cup, which is not the best prep,” she said. “There’s been so many small conversations, background noise, and the fact that we made it to a quarterfinal is — I’m not going to lie — through no help of the SRU.”
Scotland’s contractual disputes have been a nasty subplot to their World Cup campaign. Though the incredibly impressive captain Rachel Malcolm drew a line under talk of that at the squad announcement, saying they needed tunnel-vision focus for on-field matters, it was a constant weight on their shoulders. Players were having job interviews during the tournament, trying to plan for the uncertainty of what life looks like post-World Cup.
The genesis of all of this can be traced back to before the Six Nations. “I think the original proposal was to get this all sorted before the championships. But it kept on getting pushed down the line,” one source told ESPN. “I just don’t think it was ever a priority for the Union.” Ultimatums were made, sources said, but eventually compromise was found in contracts being extended through to the end of the World Cup. Back in 2022, 28 contracts were awarded. The exact number available this time round is uncertain. The players wanted a full squad contracted. But heading into the World Cup, just 15 had been offered. Legends like Konkel were left in rugby and professional limbo, while backroom staff were also affected.
“It was a complete shambles,” a source said.
The long-term hope is to have the national team’s players playing for Scottish clubs. But the exact format of that is still undefined. “So there’s players living in England getting told they need to move if they want to get a contract, but they have part-time jobs down here and they’ve got mortgages and the rest of it … I just don’t think this was ever part of the consideration when this was thought out,” a source said.
Bryan Easson became head coach of the women’s team in 2020 but had worked in different roles in Scottish Rugby for the best part of 25 years. In July, he announced he would step down after the World Cup. He was asked after the defeat to England whether he had come to peace with leaving his role. He did his best to straight-bat the question but tear-stained eyes told another story. During his tenure, he led them to an all-time high of fifth. “All I will do over the next two or three weeks before I finish is to keep fighting and make sure they get what they need,” he said.
That announcement added to the growing instability within Scotland’s build up where the contract discussions dragged on without resolution. In June, the BBC ran a story saying just 15 of the 38 players in the training camp had received contract offers and the players in the training camp were suffering “with their mental and emotional health following the potential loss of their contracts.”
In mid-July, Malcolm addressed the press and said: “It’s not been ideal prep whatsoever. It’s been very disruptive. My ethos as captain is to make my players feel like superwomen, feel like they’re valued and they belong — and the processes which have gone on behind the scenes have definitely done almost the opposite of those three things.”
At the squad announcement, winger Rhona Lloyd — who has a contract — said: “There’s a lot of the squad that are going into this World Cup — more than half the squad that are not coming out of it with contracts. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a player to perform under, not knowing if you’ve got a job in the following months.” As the figurehead, Malcolm tried to draw a line under the contract talk to focus on the tournament.
On the field, Scotland had a must-win match first up against Wales. They came through that brilliantly, winning 38-8. They then dispatched Fiji 29-15, and put in a valiant effort against Canada, before losing out 40-19. With England next up — a team they had lost to 27 times on the bounce — they were heavy underdogs. The match went to script, with England winning 40-8 — scoring six tries to one.
Afterwards, Easson spoke about how the team genuinely believed they could cause an upset but their set piece was shaky and their foundations crumbled. But amid it all, it was a match you sensed which bridged two eras: this was the end of one, some of the group playing their final match in a Scotland shirt but also the general hope that they were laying the groundwork for the future generations to come into an environment where they could prosper.
In his departure news conference, Easson frequently mentioned the importance of investing in the pathways. “You have to keep investing because there’s a real talent pool in Scotland and we have to make sure that that keeps growing and keep driving it.”
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There was a recurrent theme: how the players and staff view this as a “pivotal” point for the game. That’s the point Malcolm emphasised, having just captained Scotland for a record 53rd time — the most by any man or woman in Scottish rugby history. She spoke with wonderful quiet authority but also there was this bubbling frustration through everything she asked the governing body “just to listen” to the players. “There is a risk of losing players and potentially having lost players that we absolutely don’t want,” she said. “We want to keep players in the game.”
A few minutes later, the players filed through and spoke to the press. We’d seen Konkel’s tears, we saw Lloyd’s emotions bubbling over as she scored their late consolation try and it didn’t take much to understand as you saw the players, this felt like the end of a chapter. But the players still wanted their voices to be heard and to send a message.
“Just support us, and support women’s rugby,” Rachel McLachlan said. “That’s all we ask for. We want to be the best in the world, we want to win these tough games and to do that, we need support.” Evie Gallagher said the players want the SRU to “respect us as a group.”
And that leaves us with Konkel. Malcolm said: “She epitomises what it means to play for Scotland and play with a thistle on your chest. I don’t think words can ever do justice.”
For Konkel, her final message in a Scotland shirt was to seek change.
“Respect us,” she said. “Know that this is a programme that we pour our life into.”
