Jade Konkel named as Scotland's first full-time player

Scottish Rugby have announced the appointment of Hillhead Jordanhill captain Jade Konkel as the nation's first full-time female rugby player.

The 22-year-old, who has 23 caps at No 8, was one of 16 women selected in the second tier of the Scottish Rugby Academy at its 2015 inauguration, and is the first woman to be named in the full-time third tier.

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"I'm relishing this opportunity and I'm going to give it everything I've got," the international player said. "It's a huge honour to focus all my time and energy on becoming a better athlete, for myself and for Scotland.

"There's a massive opportunity for women in this sport to grow and hopefully going full-time shows it's definitely on a path to move forward."

Scottish Rugby Head of Women and Girls' Rugby Sheila Begbie added: "I'm delighted that we're now beginning to create opportunities to help Scotland Women compete on the European and world stages in the Women's Six Nations Championship and potentially Women's Rugby World Cup 2017.

"Our aspirations go beyond these two tournaments, which is why we are looking to move our top performers into full-time programmes and recruit female athletes, who have performed on the European or world stage, to help propel Scotland into the elite stage of women's rugby over the next decade and beyond."