Maxwell comes out of retirement to give Scotland great one final Barbarians send-off

Jenny Maxwell is pulling her boots on one last time. The 33-year-old scrum-half, who officially retired from Leicester Tigers and Scotland duty in March, has been called into the Barbarians women’s squad for their double-header against Wales at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on 27 June.

Maxwell earned 40 caps for Scotland between 2015 and 2022, a tally that would almost certainly have been higher had two serious knee injuries not interrupted her career. When her final Premiership Women’s Rugby appearance for Leicester against Exeter Chiefs came and went, she assumed her playing days at the top level were over.

“I didn’t expect the call-up at all, it came out of the blue,” Maxwell said. “When I hung the boots up at the end of March after my last game for Leicester I thought that would be that. Clearly my boots were hanging on for dear life and wanted one last run out.”

Barbarians women’s lead Fi Stockley made the approach, and Maxwell says the phone call left her unable to stop smiling. “It feels like the cherry on top for me and my rugby career and a lovely way to go out on a high,” she added.

Maxwell is joined in the Barbarians squad by three fellow Scots — Christine Belisle, Sarah Bonar and Caity Mattinson — continuing a tradition of Scottish representation in the famous invitational side that has previously included Rhona Lloyd, Helen Nelson, Sarah Law and Donna Kennedy, who went on to coach the select team.

The squad will be guided by the highly regarded coaching partnership of Susie Appleby and Sarah Hunter, and Maxwell is relishing the prospect of a squad environment again after a busy post-retirement period that included a trip to Thailand for a friend’s wedding and settling into a new role with the Rugby Players Association.

“Since the Barbarians call came, I have been keeping my fitness levels up as much as I can and next week it’ll be so fun being back in a rugby squad environment with some familiar faces and some new ones,” she said. “I cannot wait to link up with everyone on Monday and start building towards the game — it’ll be really nice to be back alongside my former Scotland team-mates CB, Sarah and Caity again.”