Lochaber rugby star Kate sets sights on world cup
As a youngster, Katie Dougan could be found running about Lochaber Rugby Club’s Banavie pitch enjoying playing mini rugby, despite not being from what would be called a traditional rugby family.
The same could not be said now, with both her parents in Fort William and younger sister the biggest supporters of the 26-year-old Scotland player.
And the family will be hoping Katie, who normally plies her rugby with Hillhead Jordanhill, can add to her 14 caps with a few more in next year's Women’s Rugby World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.
Katie, a former pupil at Lochaber High School, returned to the sport when she began studying at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a degree in Environmental Geoscience.
She won her first Scotland cap two years later in the 2015 Six Nations match against Italy. After eight appearances off the bench, she earned her first start in the final match of the 2017 Six Nations against Italy, which Scotland won.
Two weeks before her full Scotland cap, Katie made her Scotland Women U20 debut against the RAF in February 2015. She also spent a summer season in 2018 playing for St Albert RFC in Canada. The most recent of her 14 international caps came in this year’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers when she came off the bench in the first game against Italy.
Edging out Ireland in the final minutes of their last qualifier meant the Scottish team made it through to the qualifying repechage tournament in January in Dubai. Before that, however, this month sees the Scottish women run out in front of a home crowd for the first time in two years when they take on Japan at Edinburgh Rugby’s new DAM Health Stadium on Sunday November 14.
Katie told the Lochaber Times: ‘We went into the qualifiers knowing we had to come first or second but playing Italy in our first game was probably the toughest match. It was at 3pm and the heat was ridiculous.
‘It maybe was that we hadn't quite acclimatised to the heat at that point. But to still come second was fantastic and means we are still in the fight with a chance to go to a world cup for the first time since 2010.’
Katie laughs when I ask if she ever expected to be playing at international level when she first started playing as a youngster.
‘It was a pal at school who was always trying to convince me to come along to training at Lochaber and I was like ‘nah, I’m just not interested’, but I finally gave in and went along and thought it was great fun. But I didn’t expect to go quite so far, until I was playing at university surrounded by players and coaches who had played for Scotland and realised it might be a possibility for me to do the same,’ she explained.
Despite a few games in the second or back row, Katie has always played at prop. A dynamic player in the loose who likes to run with ball in hand, she admits to once having had a fancy for the number 10 berth.
She got her chance for 20 minutes in the semi-final of a Scottish cup after four games in as many days saw injuries racking up.
‘But apart from that 20-minute stint, I’ve always played at prop – so yeah, I’m a prop.’
Katie says the standard among the national squad is continually improving as more investment has significantly boosted the women’s game.
‘That has helped push everyone on. Even from just when I got my first cap till now, the standard of squad has got so much better. And it’s fantastic all our games are now broadcast on BBC Alba which is attracting more young girls into the sport,’ she told the Lochaber Times.
Dougan will be spending the rest of the current season playing for Gloucester-Hartpury Women’s Rugby Football Club based in Gloucester – the unified women's team of Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury University RFC.
‘I was there for the two seasons prior to the pandemic and really enjoyed it. Hopefully, it will let me challenge myself and push myself on by playing week in and week out against players from all over the globe.’
Katie could be described as a semi-pro thanks to her stint at Gloucester-Hartpury, but says she will need to try and supplement her income through coaching.
‘There’s not much money involved so a bit of a coaching might let me scrape by,’ she laughed, before agreeing the dream would be to turn fully professional at some stage.
‘Definitely, if that opportunity presented itself, I’d certainly grab it.’