'Superstar' McGhie announces herself on World Cup stage

Fran McGhie has looked like a budding superstar ever since she burst onto the international stage as a teenager, and a hat-trick on World Cup debut was proof that she is fulfilling that potential.

Now 22, the winger needed just 55 seconds to open her World Cup account in Scotland’s record 38-8 win over Wales that puts them in prime position to make it through to the knockout stages of England 2025.

McGhie went onto score two more tries, another just after Wales had got their first points of the game, before the hat-trick score right after half-time effectively ended any hopes of a Welsh comeback.

Scotland flanker Rachel McLachlan was the first to sing the praises of her young teammate.

She said: “Fran McGhie is an absolute superstar, and we've all known it. It's nice for her now to have shown that world stage just how good she is.

“She's got a huge future ahead of her, had an incredible season in the PWR and I'm excited to see her go from strength of strength over the next couple of weeks.”

1, 2, 3 for Fran McGhie! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👏

A World Cup debut to remember for Scotland's winger!#BBCRugby #RWC2025 pic.twitter.com/qz7aftKXtL

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 23, 2025

McGhie has spent the last two seasons at Leicester Tigers in Premiership Women’s Rugby, but will ply her trade in West London from next season after signing for Trailfinders Women.

She will hope to pitch up there off the back of a stellar World Cup and could not have dreamed of a better start.

Scotland claimed the full five points against Wales, their biggest rivals for a top two spot in the pool, and can now take a giant step towards qualification when they take on Fiji.

And McGhie, who was still working as a teacher in St Albans when the last World Cup took place in New Zealand, was thrilled to have made such a strong start to the tournament.

She said: “I've not scored a hat-trick in a Scotland jersey and I think only one in my club jersey. So I was very proud of that, but I think they were just well-worked team tries.

“As a team, we just knew from the second we got to the changing rooms, put the jerseys on, stepped outside and kicked off, I think we really felt it and we knew exactly what we needed to do and we absolutely delivered on that.

“We didn’t think it was going to be easy against the Welsh, it’s always a close game. We knew what we needed to get out of the game and we absolutely performed on that.

“We spoke about a fast start – the Welsh have always got that in the bag as well. We said let’s get the first score and play from there, and that’s exactly what we did.”

While McGhie scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup, she was later matched and surpassed by Canada’s Julia Schell in the other game in Pool B.

The full-back racked up six tries in 22 second-half minutes against Scotland’s next opponents Fiji, to go top of the try charts.

But despite the Pacific Islanders being on the wrong end of a 65-7 defeat, McGhie knows that Scotland will have to front up back in Salford next Saturday.

McGhie added: “Fiji are a big, physical, fast team so hopefully we will carry this performance into next week.”