'A lot of sacrifices were being made to play for Scotland' - Lloyd
Rhona Lloyd says she feels "privileged" to be playing professional women's sport as she reflected on her Scotland career after picking up her 50th cap.
The winger made her debut aged 18 in 2016 against England and has seen a huge change in the women's game since then.
"It was at Broadwood, I'd guesstimate a max of 300 people there," Lloyd said of her Scotland bow.
"We were the curtain-raiser for the Scotland men's Under-20s. It was a huge honour then and it's still a huge honour now. I am so privileged that I've played during this period where women's rugby has changed so much.
"We've seen professionalisation at that international level and girls that are coming through now, it just looks so different for them. It's been an incredible journey."
Although Lloyd has been a mainstay of the Scotland squad since her debut, she admitted she never thought about reaching 50 caps - or even turning professional.
"I definitely did not think professionalisation would happen in the time I was playing. The first six years I was doing this, we were not getting paid," she added.
"A lot of sacrifices were being made to play for Scotland. Now that we've been rewarded for that, you can really think about doing this for a lot longer. It's such an exciting time in women's sport."
Lloyd's 50th cap came in Saturday's win over Italy and the 27-year-old revealed it had been an emotional week in camp.
"It was a tough week for us, with the news of Emma Wassell's mum Pauline [passing]. It was very much about making Emma proud that weekend," she said.
