The dawn of a new campaign brings with it opportunity, and for Scotland Women that means a shot at retaining their WXV 2 title, improving on their fourth-place Six Nations finish and earning a spot at next year’s Rugby World Cup.
So despite being in the middle of an intensive pre-season schedule, it is easy to see why prop Christine Belisle finds plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the campaign ahead.
“It’s the best,” she replied when asked how she was enjoying being back with the Scotland squad.
“Obviously having some time off and doing your own thing is great, but there is literally nothing better than coming back into this group and seeing all your friends again."
When team morale needs a boost, Belisle is regularly name-checked by her colleagues as the go-to source of positivity, along with lock Louise McMillan.
The prop said she is keen to make the most of every moment she spends in the national team set-up.
She said: “I just try to have fun, I just am quite a silly goose, I don’t take myself too seriously.
“A big thing I have worked on over the last four or so years has been just enjoying being here and taking in every day.
“Being one of the older girls I recognise my impact on the girls coming in. When it is time to work hard I work hard and want to leave everything out there as an example to others, I never want to look back on a game or a session and think ‘I could have done more’.
"That has been a huge part of this squad’s growth, we enjoy each other’s company and we enjoy what we do, so even though we are working hard there is still time to have fun.”
The 30-year-old insisted the team’s progress over the past 12 months – including a seven-match unbeaten run – was not tarnished by the defeat to Ireland on the final weekend of the Six Nations in a match where World Cup qualification could have been tied up.
She added: “Obviously the way we finished the Six Nations was not how we had probably hoped, but there was so much to take away from the season and take away from that loss.
“Already in these camps we have been looking at how we can rectify things and it just lights more of a fire if anything else.”
All going to plan, Scotland could be about to embark on a 14-month campaign that would culminate at next year’s World Cup in England.
But Belisle, who plays her club rugby at Loughborough Lightning, doesn’t want to look too far into the future.
She said: "We are looking forward to qualifying for the World Cup, getting there and then performing there, but it is just about putting one foot in front of the other and taking each training day one at a time and seeing how we can make the most out of them and getting better as players and as a team leading into it.
“We are super excited about our upcoming games against Wales and Fiji, I have personally never played Fiji so I am looking forward to that. They are big games, but they are building blocks in the bigger picture.”
Despite failing to secure World Cup qualification at the first hurdle and falling short of their aim to be the ‘best of the rest’ behind England and France in the Six Nations, the ever-positive Belisle was keen to put a positive spin on the progress the team has made over the past 12 months.
She added: “If we reflect back on WXV 2 last year, winning the title showed how much we had grown in the year leading into that.
“I think having new, younger faces coming into these camps has helped to push our standards and train with more numbers on feet all of the time.
“There are also new coaches and these things have all been massive for how we can continue to grow. It has been great.”
Since making her international debut in 2019 as a back-row forward, Belisle has moved into the front row and become a mainstay of the side.
That capped a remarkable journey for Canadian-born Belisle, who originally came to Scotland nine years ago for a wedding and has never left.
She added: “If you had asked me when I first moved here where I’d be in 2024 I would not have believed you.”
Now she’s a professional athlete and on the cusp of helping Scotland secure qualification for back-to-back World Cups.
“When I got my first cap in 2019 I never anticipated this would be my life,” Belisle continued.
She added: “Being 30 now and seeing my friends who are successful in their own rights, but in a completely different way, like when I was back in Canada in the summer we just live such different lives and I realise how fortunate I am to have this sporting career.
“I could never have imagined being here, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
It is four years since Belisle moved into one of the most technically challenging positions on the field, and though she’s happy with where her game is, she knows she can keep improving.
“You are always learning in this position,” she said.
“I really enjoy it, whenever I tell people I play tighthead they say ‘oh my gosh’, but it is a position that I really enjoy and it is a position that you are always learning in and can improve in.
“I am very grateful that a few years ago the S&C coach and the coaches at the time that tighthead had potential for me.
“It could have been easy to battle it out in the second-row and back-row, but for me to be able to use what I have in terms of my strength, I had been strength training for years and years before top level rugby, so being able to utilise that in a position is so fun.
“It makes the hard work worth it.”
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