FOR most clubs the kick-off to the BT Women's Premier League was just another opening weekend. For Hillhead-Jordanhill, it gave them their first taste of the benefits of the Scottish rugby authorities dipping their toes into the waters of professionalism for the women's game.
In many ways, they are playing catch-up – England, for example, have 48 players on full and part-time contracts covering 15s and sevens – but for Jade Konkel, the HillJills' No.8 and the first woman in Scotland to be paid to train and play, the benefits are obvious and her club is the first to reap the reward.
"I am proud, I am in a great position now but I have worked really hard to be where I am," Konkel said. "It is everything I always wanted, a massive opportunity that I was not going to turn down. I am never going to look back, it has changed my life.
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"It is exciting. I am happy every day. I get up and it is not like, 'I have to go to work today' but, 'I am ready to go'. I am ready to go to the gym, ready to do all my sessions. Every day is new, every day is different and every day you work towards becoming a better athlete."
In many ways Konkel was an obvious choice to be the groundbreaker for women's rugby in Scotland. She comes from a rugby family in the Black Isle, north of Inverness, and one of her prouder moments was playing in the same Inverness Craig Dunain team as her mother. It is in the blood and she has the enthusiasm to make it work.
She is the one forging the way now that the Scottish Rugby Union are putting resources into the female game with Sheila Begbie running the show, Shade Munro as the full-time national coach in charge of a full team of assistants and this summer saw the breakthrough into playing professionally.
"This is just the beginning; I may be the first but I am certainly not the last," said Konkel. "I hope I can show people it is a good path to take and show how much it is going to be worth.
"So much has happened, it is great to see. All the coaches are fantastic, the staff are fantastic. It is a great platform. I have always said this is a new era for women's rugby in Scotland, it is going to keep on growing.
"With all the regional staff going on and girls starting at a young age there is space for women and the quality is getting so much better. There is so much opportunity for girls to come through. There is plenty of capacity in women's rugby. So much has happened and it is all positive."
At the moment, though, Konkel is unique and she cannot train on her own – so as a stage three member of the Glasgow rugby academy, she trains with the male players. Far from being a problem, she claims it helps drive her on.
"Training with the boys is great, you are just one of them in at the Academy," she said. "I definitely get all the chatter, I love all that. I love the gym and I love the atmosphere around it.
"The boys are really good at pushing you as well, they are always driving you on, egging you on. I am definitely a bit fitter, a bit faster, but I am still work in progress. Come the international season I really hope to have seen a big difference for the squad and for myself as a player."
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