Martin’s Tick Talk as Championship Clock Counts Down

The countdown is well and truly on for this year’s Women’s Six Nations and the clock began ticking loudly last week at the formal launch of the tournament in London.Head coach Shade Munro and captain Lisa Martin represented Scotland Women at the event [pic above] where press colleagues from all forms of media were there to record and report the thoughts and ambitions of all six national squads.Twenty-five-year-old stand-off Martin, appointed captain for the first time this season, was an enthusiastic advocate of a number of positive developments in the national women’s game in Scotland over the last year.These included the appointment of former Scotland lock and Glasgow Warriors assistant coach Shade Munro as head coach and a training camp in Spain. The latter, which received significant funding through the Erasmus+ European Commission programme, culminated in a win over the host national squad.Martin said:”The Spain win was a massive boost for us. It gave us confidence in our ability, as individuals and as a squad, that we can get into a position where we’re winning and be comfortable with it.”Shade coming in as full time coach has been fantastic,” she continued, “with the added time together we’ve had at camps – our ten-day Spain camp and the seven days we’ve just had in Glasgow.”It means we get to work on things consistently, rather than picking up points now and again over weekends. It’s the first step to professionalism.”The establishment of the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academies – Lisa is a member of the academy based at Edinburgh Napier University in the city’s Sighthill – is also helping shape the future of the women’s game.She said: “We’ve got the the Academy set-up which is another step to professionalism.”Ultimately, though, we’ve got to put in good performances for women to want to continue to play the sport and to show younger girls that there is a pathway to follow to ultimately compete for your country.”Martin will be leading her country for the first time in a capped game – she was captain for the friendly in Spain in November – at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld on Friday (5 February, k/o 6pm) against England.The Scotland Women team to take on the auld enemy in this Six Nations opener will be named on Wednesday (3 February) and Martin is dogmatic about the task in hand.”You have to focus on yourself and your own performance. You can’t control what the opposition can do but you can control what we, as Scotland, can do.You can’t focus on the result but you can focus on the performance. That’s key for us this season. To get our performances right and develop that, game on game.”Watch Lisa and the other Women’s Six Nations captains preview the tournament here Scotland Women Six NationsFriday 5 January, v England, Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld  k/o 6pm  *Sunday 14 February, v Wales,  The Gnoll, k/o 2pmSunday 28 February, v Italy, Campo Arcoveggio, k/o 2.30 (local, 1.30 UK)Friday 11 March, v France, Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld k/o 6pm  *Sunday 20 March, v Ireland, Donnybrook, k/o 1pm* Scotland Women and Scotland Under-20 combine their matches into double-headers against England and France. Tickets are£10 (adult entry to both matches) with seniors, under-18s and Scotland Season Pass holders free. Tickets are available to buy now.