Scotland host the Red Roses at Scotstoun
Scotland host the reigning Champions England this weekend for their first home match of the 2020 Women’s Six Nations match.
This Sunday’s fixture is available to watch on BBC Alba and you can also visit scottishrugby.org for in-game updates straight from the pitch in Dublin. The team to face England for the fixture was announced on Friday online.
Head Coach Philip Doyle said on the fixture: “We have suffered with a couple of injuries in the last week. We have made the decision to rest Hannah Smith and Megan Gaffney so that they are in the best possible fitness for the rest of the Championship.
“We are under no illusion of how strong England are going to be, but for us it is a matter of playing our type of rugby against them rather than just trying to stop them. We will not make it easy for them at our home ground.”
“It will be a great occasion being back at Scotstoun and I hope all of our fans will get behind us for what is sure to be an exciting display of rugby.”
Philip Doyle
Scotland came close to an away win in Ireland last weekend with a 18-14 win for the hosts in Dublin.
Captain Rachel Malcolm said after the match: “I’m really proud of the way the girls came back and fought, particularly into the second half. I think we finished really strong and we played some of the best rugby we have played in recent times.
“There’s a lot of belief in the squad. what’s happened now is that we’ve grown as a squad we’re more grown up we’re better at managing the game and I think the way the girls turned it around and just had the belief that we could do it. The belief in our game plan allowed us to come back into the game and challenge right up into the 80th minute.”
Facing the reigning champions is never an easy feat but Scotland’s Jade Konkel says that the team needs just focus on their own play and have some belief.
The Harlequin player said: “We play with and against these players week in week out. We have a lot of players in the Tyrrells Premiership, all who compete and all who are more than capable in competing against these English players.
“I think that we need to have the mentality and the belief that we come across these players all the time, and this is not that different. We need to learn that we can front up on the pitch and have the belief that we can.
“We can definitely make them play against us because we are definitely not going to make anything easy for them. They are going to have to really fight on our home soil.”
Jade Konkel
Tickets are available for Sunday’s match against England and Scotland’s second home Women’s Six Nations matches against France (Sat 7 March, 7.45pm), including the kids for £1 offer (with a paying adult, ends midnight before each match). BUY NOW.