It has been a difficult week for the Scotland squad after a disappointing result and performance against England at Hive Stadium.
While the result was a tough one to take, it wasn’t as heavy a defeat as there have been in the past against England, who are the world’s best team, but the performance was below where it has been recently, so that will have been the most disappointing thing.
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But the real positive from last weekend was having a sell-out crowd at Hive Stadium was huge and that was because of previous performances.
That is now the standard and hopefully it is only going to improve going forward.
I think giving the Women’s Six Nations its own space in the calendar has helped attract its own fans, but I’ve also loved the fact that fans of the men’s game are also now going along to women’s games.
I’ve played games for Scotland in Aberdeen, Dundee and at Broadwood, but now to have the games at The Hive looks good, it’s a great event to go to and it’s great to see it growing.
England and France are now selling out big stadiums, and the RFU have a plan to sell-out a women’s game at Twickenham. It would be great for Scottish Rugby to look at having women’s games at Murrayfield, but that’s one for the long-term future.
It’s a big day for both the wingers against Italy on Saturday, with Fran McGhie making her first start of the championship and Rhona Lloyd winning her 50th cap.
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Fran was outstanding last year and scored some amazing tries, and she’s taken everything in her stride. There are still areas of her game she needs to work on, but she’s fearless and that is so impressive for a young player.
It’s a really special day for Rhona – I think I played more than half of my games for Scotland with her on the other wing. She’s a huge influence in the squad.
Some of the stuff she comes up with is a bit nutty – she loves her ukelele but she’s a really good role model for someone who has worked really hard to develop her game. She’s put herself out there as one of the best wingers in the world.
Up front, Molly Wright and Eva Donaldson come into the team – and having Eva is like having an extra back-row because she is so mobile.
Molly is not long back from an ACL injury and it’s great to see her back in the starting line-up. She’s a front row, but she reads the game really well.
Scotland just need to regroup and deliver a performance at the same level as the Wales and France games.
It will be a tough ask this weekend against a good Italy team, who are very unpredictable.
Their main playmaker is Beatrice Rigoni, but a lot of the girls will know her from Sale Sharks.
They are in a different phase from Scotland – they are slightly younger and with less experience, but their advantage this weekend is playing at home.
There was some sad news off the pitch this week too with the passing of Emma Wassell’s mum Pauline.
Emma is a huge part of the group so the whole squad will feel it. Emma’s mum used to make tablet for the team, and she was always around during the 10 years Emma has played for Scotland.
It will have been a tough week for everyone. Nothing is going to take any of the pain away but I’m sure they’ll want to put in a performance to make Emma and her family proud.
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