Player Spotlight: Abby ready to make a splash after first national team cap versus USA

Full Name: Abby Duguid
Hometown: Edmonton, AB
Club: University of Lethbridge / Loughborough Lightning / Nor'Westers Athletic Association
Position: Second Row
Caps: 1
Debut: 2022 vs USA

In the 72nd minute of Canada’s 36-5 victory over the USA in their opening fixture of the Pacific Four Series, 24-year-old Abby Duguid stepped onto the field to earn her first cap for the Senior National Women’s team.

It’s a moment that will no doubt live long in the memory of the Edmonton native, who will be hoping she can build on her maiden senior appearance in the final two Pacific Four Series fixtures against host nation New Zealand and Australia respectively.

Fans in Canada can watch the match against New Zealand live on TSN.ca or the TSN App with an encore presentation set to air on TSN 2 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern / 7:00 p.m. Pacific on Sunday.

Duguid has played club rugby overseas for Loughborough Lightning in the Allianz Premier 15s having made the move to the UK in October 2020, midway through the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, she graduated from the University of Lethbridge, where she played for the Pronghorns during her fifth year.

The second row’s start in rugby came in her home province of Alberta, where she worked up the Wolf Pack’s ranks from U16 level to the senior women’s team. She also spent time in the Rugby Canada Women’s Age Grade system with the U20s, under current Senior Women’s Sevens Head Coach Jack Hanratty.

It was with the U20s and Hanratty that Duguid experienced her greatest memory as a rugby athlete so far: in 2018, when she was part of the squad which took part in the Tri-Nations Cup on home soil in Halifax, NS.

Four years on, she’s in Head Coach Kevin Rouet’s 32-strong roster in New Zealand for the Pacific Four Series and has just been named as a finisher for their match against the host nation this weekend. With just four months between now and the Rugby World Cup 2021, she’ll be hoping to earn her second cap against the Black Ferns and be on the plane back Down Under in October.

See Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s team in action this summer as they compete on home soil for the first time in seven years. They take take on Italy on July 24 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, BC and Wales in at the Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, NS as they continue their Journey to the Rugby World Cup.

Click here for ticket details.