Gillian McCord is a Scottish former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who played

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for

Royal High Corstorphine RFC Royal High Corstorphine RFC is a former Edinburgh rugby union club, formed from the merger of the Royal HSFP and Corstorphine RFC. The merged club was dissolved in 2017 as two clubs:- Corstorphine Cougars and Royal HSFP. History Royal High ...

and

Watsonians Ladies Rugby Watsonian FC Ladies is a women's rugby union team based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is part of Watsonians RFC and plays at the club's home ground of Myreside Road, Edinburgh. Squads Watsonians have one ladies t ...

at a club level, and the

Scotland women's national rugby union team The Scotland women's national rugby union team represents Scotland in women's international rugby union and is governed by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team competes in the annual Women's Six National Championship and has competed in five of t ...

. She made her debut as Scottish Captain against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 2007. In 2019, she placed as a runner-up in the cooking competition show ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

''.

Playing career

During her

playing career, Jilly McCord played as a lock. She initially played for

at club level. In 2002, McCord was told that she would be unable to play for the

unless she improved her pace by losing weight. She was playing for

at the time, and during the course of her weight loss, she lost from a starting point of . Following her weight loss, she was selected for the national team. In 2007, she was named as Scottish captain, taking over from

Donna Kennedy Donna Kennedy (born 16 February 1972) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former international player who played for the national team from 1993 to 2010. She was the world's most-capped women's player from 2004 to 2016 and the first Scottish p ...

. Her first match as captain was against

, where she earned her 28th

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

. She competed at the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limit ...

MasterChef

In 2019, she competed in the cooking television series ''

'', where she reached the final, losing to Irini Tzortzoglou.

Personal life

McCord lived in

Inverkeithing Inverkeithing ( ; gd, Inbhir Chèitinn) is a port town and parish, in Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth. A town of ancient origin, Inverkeithing was given royal burgh status during the reign of Malcolm IV in the 12th century. It was an imp ...

, Fife, before moving to

Cramond Cramond Village (; gd, Cathair Amain) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman ac ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, with her partner Kimberley Fergus and her two dachshunds. She works as a history teacher at

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

, a boarding school in

Dollar, Clackmannanshire Dollar ( gd, Dolair) is a small town with a population of 2,800 people in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It is east of Stirling. Toponymy Possible interpretations are that Dollar is derived from ''Doilleir'', an Irish and Scots Gaelic word mea ...

References

Living people 20th-century Scottish women 21st-century Scottish women Scottish lesbian sportswomen British LGBT rugby union players Scotland women's international rugby union players Scottish female rugby union players Year of birth missing (living people) Scottish schoolteachers Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Linlithgow {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub