{"id":320910,"date":"2025-12-17T12:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320910\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T12:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:45:07","slug":"sione-fukofuka-named-new-scotland-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320910\/","title":{"rendered":"Sione Fukofuka named new Scotland head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scottish Rugby has confirmed that Sione Fukofuka will be the new Scotland<\/a> women\u2019s national team head coach from the start of 2026.<\/p>\n

Most recently Fukofuka led the USA<\/a> Women\u2019s Eagles at the 2025 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> where his side exited at the group stages.<\/p>\n

He brings a decade\u2019s worth of experience across the international men\u2019s and women\u2019s games. This started with a coaching role with the Australian Youth Women\u2019s sevens team and then the Australia<\/a> men\u2019s sevens team in 2019.<\/p>\n

In 2021 Fukofuka joined the Wallaroos<\/a> as an assistant coach in 2021 before his appointment with the USA in 2023. He will begin his new role, subject to visa, in January and will be based in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Appointed at the conclusion of a global search for Bryan Easson\u2019s successor, Fukofuka will hope to capitalise on Scotland\u2019s quarter-final exit at this year\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

A trained teacher, his appointment aligns with the countdown to the 2029 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> in Australia and the beginning of a new groundbreaking women\u2019s rugby calendar. This new calendar includes home and away matches in September and October, alongside the Guinness Women\u2019s Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fukofuka\u2019s first game at the helm of his new side will take place on Saturday 11 April when Scotland<\/a> visit Cardiff\u2019s Principality Stadium to take on Wales.<\/p>\n

Sione\u00a0Fukofuka\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cI am honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to lead the Scotland Women\u2019s programme. Scottish\u00a0Rugby\u2019s vision and direction for the future of the women\u2019s programme\u00a0is one that drew me to the role.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAn aligned domestic pathway and emphasis on the increasing professionalism of the senior programme through the Celtic Challenge<\/a> and the senior Scotland Women team is exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to connecting with the talented players, quality staff and invested stakeholders across the program to drive a high-performance environment that develops the players to their potential and produces a style of rugby that can be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Williamson, Scottish Rugby Chief Executive, said:\u00a0\u201cI am\u00a0delighted\u00a0to welcome Sione to Scottish Rugby at such an exciting time for the development of,\u00a0not only our national team,\u00a0but the whole of the\u00a0girl\u2019s and women\u2019s game in Scotland. Sione\u00a0brings\u00a0many years of experience within\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0international\u00a0rugby\u00a0and\u00a0we\u00a0want to\u00a0build\u00a0the\u00a0strongest possible coaching set up to take us forward\u00a0at this crucial time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the\u00a0months\u00a0since\u00a0our\u00a0Rugby World Cup\u00a0quarter-final, we have\u00a0contracted\u00a0more\u00a0players than\u00a0ever\u00a0before\u00a0with many of them\u00a0benefiting\u00a0from our first ever Central Programme\u00a0at\u00a0Oriam.\u00a0Gemma Fay\u00a0has\u00a0taken up her new role as\u00a0Managing Director of Women\u2019s Rugby\u00a0and\u00a0her strategic direction\u00a0will\u00a0complement the\u00a0skills\u00a0Sione\u00a0brings.\u00a0With\u00a0Head of Women\u2019s Performance and Pathways, Andy Rhys Jones\u00a0also starting in the new year, we now have\u00a0a highly talented\u00a0leadership group for the\u00a0whole\u00a0women\u2019s game for the first time\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Nucifora, Director of Performance, said:\u00a0\u201cAfter a\u00a0competitive\u00a0recruitment process, it is great to be able to welcome Sione into our Women\u2019s programme. The\u00a0experience that\u00a0he\u00a0brings\u00a0from coaching international women\u2019s teams\u00a0was what we were looking for take\u00a0our women\u2019s programme forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn October we announced\u00a0an increase\u00a0in\u00a0contracts\u00a0and with\u00a0additional\u00a0players also joining them in our Central Programme in\u00a0Oriam, which is fully underway, Sione\u00a0is\u00a0joining at a pivotal time.\u00a0Our\u00a0national\u00a0team\u00a0is\u00a0in a strong position after the Rugby World Cup\u00a0and with Sione able to\u00a0bring in new\u00a0experience the journey towards Australia 2029 looks exciting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gemma Fay, Managing Director of Women\u2019s Rugby, said: \u201cSione\u2019s appointment is key to the next step in the development of our Scotland Women national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an exciting year with the new global calendar\u00a0set\u00a0to begin the next\u00a0world cup cycle in earnest and give our international players\u00a0a higher level of consistent opposition throughout the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSione\u2019s\u00a0experience in different women\u2019s\u00a0high performance\u00a0environments and coaching knowledge\u00a0make him\u00a0a\u00a0excellent fit for the next chapter of our women\u2019s team\u00a0and\u00a0new\u00a0high performance\u00a0programme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur new Women\u2019s High Performance and Pathway Manager, Andy, also starts in January and will be key to ensuring the alignment between the\u00a0on field\u00a0aspects and the development of our Pathway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u00a0both\u00a0will be working closely with all players in the programme, as well as\u00a0our\u00a0Celtic Challenge teams, Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors\u00a0and we look forward to working with them as we move into our new\u00a0Women and Girls Strategy in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottish Rugby has confirmed that Sione Fukofuka will be the new Scotland women\u2019s national team head coach from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-320910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}