Scotland lose Wassell and Philipps to injury ahead of WXV clash with Australia

Scotland have been dealt a significant injury blow ahead of their WXV Global Series fixture against Australia in Edinburgh on Saturday, with both lock Emma Wassell and centre Rachel Philipps ruled out of the match.

Wassell, 31, has been ruled out of all of Scotland’s remaining WXV campaign — including the two Tests against Australia in Sydney and Canberra — after picking up an injury. The 80-cap lock had only recently returned to international rugby ahead of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 following a year away from the game after a benign tumour was found in her chest.

Philipps, 24, has been withdrawn from this weekend’s squad due to concussion protocols and replaced by Holly McIntyre. The centre, who earned her first Scotland start at this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations, scored two tries against France in that tournament and had started both WXV fixtures against Canada and the Black Ferns.

Scotland face a Wallaroos side that has shown considerable promise in the competition despite not yet recording a win. Australia pushed France hard in Aix-en-Provence, holding a four-player advantage at one stage and leading 19-12 at half-time before France came back to win 29-26.

Interim head coach Dave Butcher acknowledged the scale of the challenge while remaining focused on the bigger picture of Scotland’s development. “Australia are a very, very good team so it is another opportunity for us to really challenge ourselves and grow,” he said.

Butcher was keen to stress that the injury setbacks would not prompt a change in approach. “We’re not changing anything, I want to be really clear on that. We’re playing a certain way to get outcomes eventually. But the growth that the players have had over these last two weeks has been fantastic. Now we need to start looking at how we switch that growth into getting more positive outcomes.”