SNATCHING defeat from the jaws of victory is a phrase often attached to Scottish rugby teams of years gone by, but the nation’s first women’s captain has been itching to share a tale of when quite the opposite happened 30 years ago.

While cycling in the Hebrides, Sandra Colamartino dreamt up an idea of writing a play to tell the story of the 1994 World Cup which, in the space of just 90 days, was spectacularly saved by Scotland after being cancelled in the Netherlands.

When The National spoke to her this time last year, she had not yet put pen to paper but she was filled with that spirit of hope all Scotland fans will be familiar with that one day, perseverance will pay off.

Thankfully, that hope was not in vain, with 90 Days now set to hit Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre stage on the weekend of April 13 when Scotland take on England in the Women’s Six Nations at Murrayfield.

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Since Colamartino finished writing the play earlier this year, she has worked with other former players to raise around £20,000 through a mixture of crowdfunding and sponsorship to ensure it can be brought to life, with theatre professionals now on board.

The former scrum-half said it was fitting to stage the play on the same weekend as the Calcutta Cup. “England wouldn’t have had [that] World Cup win without us,” Colamartino told The National. “We gave them that opportunity [by saving the tournament].”

Just a year after their first international against Ireland at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh in 1993, Scotland’s women had their sights firmly set on the competition in the Netherlands.

But as organisers failed to get official endorsement of the event as the Women’s World Cup from the International Rugby Board, the unions of some countries refused to pay team expenses or withdrew their entries, ultimately leading to the contest being cancelled just weeks before it was due to start.

Enter steely outside back Sue Brodie, who suggested a crazy idea of Scotland hosting it instead and, with each squad member chipping in a few hundred pounds, it worked. Players from all over the world came to compete and the tournament miraculously made a profit, with 5000 fans at the final. It was the perfect Scottish success story; pulling off the seemingly impossible through sheer bloody-mindedness.

And that is why, despite initial plans to stage the play at Murrayfield, it felt more appropriate for a theatre, given it is about so much more than just rugby. “It’s becoming more apparent as we develop it that this is so not about rugby, in the same way Billy Elliot is not about just ballet,” Colamartino said. “The 1994 story is about not taking no for an answer.

"Even when the odds were against us we just made it happen anyway, so that becomes about female empowerment and Scotland stepping in and saving something global, which is just something we should, as a country, be really proud of.

“It’s a story about the early days of women feeling like second-class citizens around certain sporting areas like rugby and golf. You were not allowed in a clubhouse. You weren’t allowed to play some sports.

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“We’ve come from there to here and it’s remarkable how much has changed. People of 50-plus will know all this, but people who are 20 may not. It’s really great for them to see what a change we have had for the better, especially in Scotland where we are very forward-thinking on matters such as this. Scotland led the way really.”

In the past few months, the play has grown arms and legs. Not only has scriptwriter Kim Millar – who has written for the likes of River City, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks – been brought on board, but Glasgow composer Andy McGregor will also now be writing original songs for the production.

The show will now be performed across three days from April 12-14, with tickets going on sale in January.

It is hoped the performance on April 13 can tie in with the Calcutta Cup match, so fans can go and see the match and then take themselves back in time at the theatre to when women had to fight for their right to play rugby, never mind be paid for it.

Colamartino (below) said the main motivation for writing 90 Days has been to share the story with people who don’t necessarily know about it and she hopes the current players can go and see the performance and be inspired by what came before.

The National:

She said: “The SRU [Scottish Rugby Union] have been fantastic and are very keen to support this.

“We want to celebrate the current players, it’s not just about us old girls, we want to celebrate how far we’ve come as a group. I love the idea of the current players signing balls at the play and some of the young players who look up to these guys can all be there and feel we’re creating a buzz around the current squad. That was always the mission.

“I have to thank [sponsor] Levy & McRae [the Glasgow legal firm], which has turned this from a dream into a reality. It was also great to get a donation from The Bill McLaren Foundation.”

Colamartino said it will be a great reunion for the players who came over to Scotland three decades ago to help “save the world” as newspapers who, funnily enough, had not shown much of an interest in women’s rugby beforehand, put it at the time.

“I’d dreamt this up during lockdown, I could see it so clearly in my head, and I just thought ‘you live your life once’,” she said. “You are either one of these people who just talks about doing something or you actually go and do it. I feel like persistence has paid off because this is going to happen and it feels brilliant.

“I have a couple of old friends who may fly over from New Zealand. It’s going to be really celebratory for us girls. Imagine a weekend of watching the current squad hopefully beating England and then, if not that, we’ll do what Scotland does well. We’ll commiserate together and watch the play and remember why we all love playing sport.”