Scotland players refute coach 'support' comments after Siobhan Cattigan death

The former Scotland team-mates of Siobhan Cattigan, who died last November, have publicly distanced themselves from comments purportedly made on their behalf by a players’ union representative.

The Offside Line, a Scottish rugby union news website, published an article on Thursday that cited Bill Mitchell, the chief executive of Rugby Players Scotland (RPS).

In it, Mitchell claimed that the players were “very supportive” of the Scotland coach, Bryan Easson, and that “the level and standard of physical and pastoral care in Scottish rugby is very high”.

Both of these suggestions jarred with chief criticisms made by Cattigan’s parents, Neil and Morven, in their harrowing interview with The Sunday Times last month, in which they detailed how their daughter’s mental health deteriorated rapidly in the months before her death.

Between Thursday night and Friday morning, a series of players including Jade Konkel, Chloe Rollie, Rachel Lloyd and Jenny Maxwell quote tweeted The Offside Line’s account with the same message.

One particularly stark detail of The Sunday Times’ investigation was the suggestion that Cattigan, a back-rower, would overhear coaches telling medical staff to get her back on the field as she was being treated during matches.

The Sunday Times outlined that these recollections had already been categorically denied by the Scottish Rugby Union and Mitchell said that the players were “unanimous” in their belief that Easson, who is still in his role, had been misrepresented.

“The squad are very supportive of Bryan Easson as the coach because they think he’s been great since he came on board,” he told The Offside Line. “Again, there are a few things Bryan doesn’t do particularly well, but there is unanimous feeling within the squad that the picture which has been painted of him and the way that he communicates is just not accurate.”

Neil Cattigan has stressed his belief that brain injuries were responsible for the decline of Siobhan and the Cattigans have joined a lawsuit being brought against Scottish Rugby and World Rugby.

“They fixed her broken bones but turned their backs on Siobhan’s broken brain,” Neil said in The Sunday Times. “Believing it was avoidable, knowing that you trusted people you shouldn’t have trusted, it just compounds my guilt.”

The SRU has since vowed to investigate matters but released a statement in which they did not recognise or accept some aspects of the story.