Preview: Wales v Scotland

What they said:

Head Coach Bryan Easson: “Firstly, we are all just excited to get underway here in Whangarei.

“When the players take to the pitch on Sunday, it will mark a moment that has been 12 years in the making for Scotland Women so it will be incredibly poignant for everyone involved and hopefully for those watching back home too.

“The work-rate and dedication in our training sessions throughout the summer period and here in New Zealand has been exceptional.

“It will be crucial that we keep our composure and focus for the full 80 minutes on Sunday.

“Our joint training session with South Africa last weekend provided an excellent opportunity to analyse and tighten up on certain aspects of our game and I know the players are now raring to go against Wales.”

Coaching Intern Claire Cruickshank: “Just being out here in New Zealand, the culture, the environment and working with the players and the staff in the Scotland setup has just been invaluable for me.

“When I was lucky enough to go to a World Cup, it was nothing like it is now.

“The experience the players are going to get, the support that’s going to be out, hopefully to support everybody across all teams, will just be fantastic.

“I’m just really excited for everyone to get going and I think everyone’s excited to get going now.

“It’s been two weeks of really hard work and we’re just really excited about this Wales game coming up this weekend.

The team

Stats:

• The one previous Rugby World Cup encounter between Wales and Scotland was won 8-0 by Wales in 1994.
• Only England (2.8s) had a faster average attacking ruck speed than Scotland (3.3s) in this year’s Women’s Six Nations; on the other hand, Wales had the slowest average attacking ruck speed of any side in this year’s Championship (3.9s).
• Jade Konkel (Scotland) averaged 16 carries per game during the 2022 Women’s Six Nations, more than any other player in the Championship, while teammate Rhona Lloyd ranked second for total line breaks made during the tournament.
• Kayleigh Powell gained 199 metres from kick returns during the 2022 Women’s Six Nations, more than any other player, while Scotland’s Chloe Rollie gained the second most (133); no Scotland player carried the ball for more metres overall than Rollie during the Championship (309, level with Evie Gallagher).