Remember me
Emma Wassell at the premiere of Emma Wassell: Laoch at the Everyman cinema in Edinburgh. | Scottish Rugby/Kirsty MacLachlan
It began with a sore throat and the notion that a chunk of stale sourdough may have got lodged in her esophagus.
What followed was the discovery of a 27-centimetre tumour in Emma Wassell’s chest, major surgery and a months-long battle to return to the sport she loves.
Spoiler alert: she made it, and exactly one year after the tumour had been found she played for Scotland at the 2025 Rugby World Cup.
Emma Wassell at the premiere of Emma Wassell: Laoch at the Everyman cinema in Edinburgh. | Scottish Rugby/Kirsty MacLachlanThe whole incredible story has been committed to celluloid and had its big-screen debut on Thursday evening at the Everyman cinema in Edinburgh where the great and good of Scottish rugby turned out for the premiere.
Conspicuous amongst the attendees were Wassell’s Scotland team-mates who play a pivotal role in this story. Their support throughout the medical and emotional trauma is a recurring theme in the film, Emma Wassell: Laoch.
‘Laoch’, a Gaelic word meaning warrior
‘Laoch’, a Gaelic word meaning hero, warrior, or champion, has become the squad’s nickname for Wassell, a moniker which sums up the courage of the protagonist who lost her mother, Pauline, in the months before the medical emergency.
“The passing of my mum has set me up for any challenge in life,” Wassell reflects in the film. “It made the sternotomy a bit of a breeze.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t a piece of stale bread that had got stuck in her throat and the operation to remove the offending tumour involved cutting though her sternum. It was as painful and terrifying as it sounds.
“Right at the beginning, there were some pretty dark moments in hospital where it was like, ‘am I going to survive? Am I going to be okay?’
“Straight after that, it was, ‘am I playing rugby again?’ And then, things almost came hand in hand because if I was alive, I was playing rugby again.
“I think the thought of not playing rugby again was scarier, and some people might think that sounds mental, but I cannot describe the amount this sport has given back to me and how strongly I feel about being part of it while I'm still able.”
Emma Wassell in the thick of the action during Scotland's opening match at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup against Wales at Salford Community Stadium. | AFP via Getty ImagesFortunately, the tumour was benign but Wassell still faced a huge battle to play again. This is where her courage came to the fore once more and the documentary chronicles the struggle back to fitness under the watchful eye of physiotherapist Flo Laing, the film’s engaging co-star.
“After the passing of my mum, I very much took that as an opportunity to live life to the absolute fullest and put my heart and soul into things I was passionate about. And I am hugely and immensely passionate about playing for Scotland,” Wassell said.
‘I had to be very, very black and white with her’
“So I think when I got sick, there was kind of no other option for me other than to put your absolute all into getting back to playing.”
Rugby is a collision-based sport and Wassell’s position of second row is one of the most physically demanding. There was no guarantee she would return, a point Laing had to make forcefully.
“I had to be very, very black and white with her,” said the physio. “I think it's the only fair thing to do and explain the risks. And I said from day one ‘I'm very happy to throw everything at it, but it doesn't mean it's going to work’.
“You have to have a dose of reality in there because otherwise the fall from grace is pretty hard. But, you know, she did amazingly and she made the job very easy.
Emma Wassell, second from left, at the Everyman with Scotland team-mates Rhona Lloyd, left, and Rachel Malcolm, right, and physio Flo Laing, second from right. | Scottish Rugby/Kirsty MacLachlan“You're not just aiming to get back to your local club here, it was about getting to a World Cup and it was definitely a challenge and a big one. We had to throw everything at it and luckily it worked.”
Wassell returned and helped Bryan Easson’s Scotland squad qualify from their group before losing to hosts England in the quarter-finals in Bristol. She went from surgery to the game’s pinnacle in eight short months.
The fight for recognition in a male-dominated sport
Hers is a story of personal determination but also of women fighting against the odds, scrapping for recognition in a male-dominated sport. Archive footage in the documentary shows Wassell running out for matches early in her Scotland career in less than salubrious venues watched by a handful of spectators. The term minority sport doesn’t do it justice.
Last year’s World Cup showed how much things have changed. Twickenham was sold out for the final which was broadcast live around the world. The growth of the game has been monumental and it will continue into the Six Nations which kicks off next weekend for Scotland against Wales in Cardiff. The match will be played at the Principality Stadium, not some Welsh backwater. Seven days later, the Scots will host England at Murrayfield in front of a record attendance for a standalone women’s sports fixture in Scotland.
As Wassell’s team-mate and great friend Rhona Lloyd said after the film: “It’s about young people seeing what we didn't: women's sport on TV and women's sport being played at the big stadiums.”
Lloyd and Wassell will be part of Scotland’s Six Nations squad preparing for Cardiff, looking to win their 63rd and 73rd caps, respectively, while captain Rachel Malcolm, another fast friend, will also look to earn cap number 63. Lloyd, Malcolm and the rest of the squad helped Wassell through the darkest of times and the lock will never forget.
“You don't probably realise in a team how much you support and care for each other,” said Wassell. “Like, we go out and play a hugely physical, brutal sport and the things that you would do for your team-mate become second nature on the pitch, but you don't realise what these people will do for you off the pitch.
“And yes, I was maybe unlucky for these kind of situations to happen to me, but honestly the way I've seen a group of girls group together and support me in any possible way they could, it's just something that I will genuinely hold with me for the rest of my life, knowing I had that.”