Aviemore teen kicks off time with Scotland U18 rugby team in fine style
An Aviemore teenager has got her first taste of international rugby with Scotland and loved every minute of it.
Seventeen-year-old Rianna Darroch, who plays for Inverness-based Highland, represented her country in the U18 Six Nations and at Rugby Europe U18 7s Girls Championship in Prague in Czechia.
Rianna, who played at inside centre for the Scots, completed most of the game time at the Six Nations held at Wellington College in London in the spring over a 10-day period.
She then made the cut for the smaller U18 squad which travelled to the sevens finishing in seventh place overall.
It was not to be for Scotland in the Six Nations with defeats against England (21-0), Wales (17-7), Ireland (31-5) and France (44-0) in 35 minute mini fixtures.

The competition culminated in the final round with a 70 minute international with the Scots losing narrowly by 19-15 to Italy.
Rianna said: “There were probably a couple of hundred people watching but you do not really notice when you are on the pitch – but you certainly notice it when the anthems are playing.
“I did have butterflies in my stomach especially playing on the international stage for the first time. It was cool but pretty daunting.”
She added: “I managed to play for an hour against Italy so I was chuffed with that. It was a class experience being away with the squad – it was really cool. There were training sessions in between and we also visited Windsor Castle as a team.
“I’ve hopefully got another Six Nations next year and I am looking forward to the trials again. I was one of the younger members of the squad this year but next time out would be one of the older heads.”
Her hope is to make the squad next time out in her preferred position of fly-half.
She explained: “ I like to be involved all the time. I play 10 at club level so I would like to take this up to the international stage.”
Rianna played a key role in the international sevens tournament – proving to have a deadly foot for the conversions in the Prague contest in mid July.
She said: “The selectors were only picking 12 players for the trip to Prague so it was tough competition. I got picked which was great.
“We had five games – two on the Saturday and three on the Sunday.”
The Scots U18 beat Ukraine 45-0 and Poland 26-12 but suffered defeats to Ireland (43-5), Czechia (24-21) and France (48-7).
“We won our first game which was against Ukraine which gave us a real boost for the whole of the weekend and we beat Poland as well which was another good game.
“We played France in our second match which was a tough one and they won the whole competition. They thrashed everyone but we did score points against them.
“I was kicking the conversions which are drop kicks in sevens and not from the tee – I was nine from nine.
"Scoring the 18 points has been the highlight of my time with Scotland so far.”
She added: "It is good to be representing the North – there are not generally players from the region in the international squads."
Rianna was joined in the Six Nations squad by two other players from the region but was the only representative from the Highlands in the sevens set-up.
Looking forward, she said: “I’d love to be picked again for the Six Nations squad and I will just have to see where it goes after that but hopefully I will join the U20s.”
Going pro could be one avenue: “I think more than half of the full national squad are on full contracts which is great to see with a lot of them moving down to play in England.
“The end goal is to play for the full national team – that’s definitely my aim.”
Rianna is keen to see more young female players come into the game in the region.
She said: "The ladies game is going well at Highland – we are getting good numbers which is great to see and hopefully this keeps growing."
And she added that she owed them a debt of gratitude: “I need to say a big thanks to Scottish Rugby and to Highland RFC as it was the club which put me forward for trials. If it was not for them I would never have had these wonderful experiences and be where I am today.”
Parents Claire and John, of Craiggowrie Place, are both super proud. Mrs Darroch said: “We are delighted with what Ri has achieved and her commitment to it. She takes the knocks and gets back up and on with it.”
The ex-Kingussie High School student is going to study sports coaching at Glasgow Clyde College next month.
Scotland U18 7s squad for the Rugby Europe Girls U18 7s Championship was: Freya MacColl (Stirling County); Holland Bogan (Cartha Queens Park); Lisa Brown (Biggar); Lucy MacRae (Stirling County) (captain); Megan Hyland (Garioch); Minala Taoi (Murrayfield Wanderers); Niamh Robertson-Jack (Stirling County); Niamh Ross (Annan); Nicole Flynn (Stirling County); Poppy Mellanby (Biggar); Rianna Darroch (Highland) & Zoe Mitchell (Annan).