A chance social media post changed everything for Sarah Devlin — now the Scotland international is targeting a standout year for club and country.

NEW Scotland international Sarah Devlin had the perfect start to the season when she was nominated as Player of the Match in Edinburgh Giants’ Wheelchair Challenge Cup win over Rochdale Hornets.

The Giants are in just their second season in Wheelchair Super League and are Scotland’s only representatives in a major British rugby league club competition. Devlin, a relative newcomer to the sport, has been with them all the way, and her award has definitely kick-started her year as she not only looks for club honours with Edinburgh, but also a place in the Scotland side for the Celtic Cup and World Cup.

“It was a surprise, and it was amazing, when I came off the field against Rochdale and the captain came over and said I’d been awarded Player of the Match,” she said.

“I think when you’re on the field, it can be quite easy to say, ’here’s all the things that I haven’t done right’, but when you come off and you watch the game back, you can see things more clearly. We’ve been doing an awful lot of analysis both with the Giants and in Scotland this year, and looking back on our matches is an amazing opportunity.”

The 28-year-old from Livingston started with Edinburgh Giants in 2023 as, like many who have got involved in the sport, disability prevented her from continuing elsewhere.

“I only became disabled in 2019, and before that, I was an international handball player,” she said.

“So, when I became disabled and in a wheelchair, I stopped playing sport altogether.

“I have functional neurological disorder, but my major symptom is sudden onset paralysis. I’m not eligible for a lot of disabled sports because my condition is so variable, they find it hard to classify me.

“And then Edinburgh Giants came up on my Facebook page in 2023 just as they were starting up. They were doing lots of social media to try and gather players because they were a brand-new club, and I thought I’d give that a go as it sounded fun. I went along and by week two I was absolutely hooked and never looked back.”

Devlin made a try-scoring Super League debut for Edinburgh against Sheffield Eagles in their first match in 2025. By that time, she was training in the Scotland squad and was given her chance in last year’s Celtic Cup in Cardiff. Again, she went over the line in her international debut against Wales.

“It was a little surreal, I won’t lie,” she remembers. “It was very exciting, but I think it almost doesn’t feel like a personal achievement because the whole team being behind you is the thing that gets you over the line.”

This year’s Celtic Cup is at the Oriam Performance Centre, Edinburgh University, on Saturday, 23rd May, starting at 11am. As always, it’s a one-day event where Scotland, Ireland and Wales face each other in three 80-minute matches, with the winner taking home the title — Ireland having won for the last two years.

“We’ve definitely shaken it up a lot this year,” Devlin says. “We’ve brought in a lot of new blood, me being one of them, and the new coach, Martyn Gill, has come in and put his own spin on things as well. He’s taken us in a totally new direction. We’re not looking at pushing the boat out and learning loads of new moves. If we do the basics really well, we’ve got a chance of putting some points on the board.

“Scotland is a bit of an emerging nation in wheelchair rugby league. We don’t have a huge fan base up here necessarily, but we’re slowly getting one, and I think having the chance to have it in Edinburgh gives you a little bit of home pride.

“It also means that we can encourage loads of people to come along and watch, and there are lots of opportunities for people to come and try out at one of the clubs in Scotland. It opens so many opportunities and it’s going to be great having that home pride behind us.

“The Celtic Cup is going to be a big target for us this year because we want to see where we are. For the first time, we’re feeling pretty confident that we’re going to put in a really good performance on the day and I think that will hopefully translate into tries, and if that happens, you never know what the scoreline is going to be at the end.”

Come June, in addition to Super League, attention will then be focused on the World Cup, and like all players, Devlin is hoping to earn a spot on the plane for Australia.

“We’ve got some amazing talent,” she said. “Those who’ve been at World Cups before and also brand-new players who are just into the sport but are already showing so much potential.

“What we’re being told is that no-one’s guaranteed a spot, but if we work hard, put in the effort, do what we’re being asked to do, we don’t have to be the best of the best. We have to work hard and be humble, and we’re told that’s who will get into the World Cup side.”

With Scotland not in the Women’s World Cup, Devlin and others in Scotland are hoping to also fly the flag for women’s sport.

“Over the last couple of years, we are starting to see that gender split is becoming more noticeable, where we’re actually seeing women taking up the sport and feeling like we can compete, which is amazing,” she added.

“I think it’s great to have that kind of sporting opportunity where it doesn’t matter who you are, and obviously Scotland being captained this year by a woman, Olivia Fulton, is a huge thing. I would be surprised if we don’t see at least three of the four home nations fielding women, maybe even all four.

“If we work hard at it and are able to field women on all World Cup teams, that would be amazing representation.”

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 520 (May 2026)