Scots Find World Cup Fate

Scotland Women will face France, Canada and Sweden in Pool C of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England. The premier 15-aside tournament in the women’s game, which will be played from next August 20 to September 5, will feature three pools of four teams with defending champions New Zealand, hosts and 2006 runners-up England and 2006 bronze medalists France all ranked top seeds in their pool. Scotland Women will face France, Canada and Sweden in Pool C of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England. The premier 15-aside tournament in the women’s game, which will be played from next August 20 to September 5, will feature three pools of four teams with defending champions New Zealand, hosts and 2006 runners-up England and 2006 bronze medalists France all ranked top seeds in their pool. The unprecedented qualification process, which saw 16 teams compete for the six places available outside the automatically qualified teams, was completed when Kazakhstan defeated Japan 43-5 to claim a place in Pool B, while Sweden join Pool C in their first appearance on the Women’s Rugby World Cup stage since 1998. New Zealand, England, France, Canada, USA and South Africa all qualified directly, with Wales and Ireland qualifying through the Six Nations, Sweden and Scotland from the European qualifiers in May, Australia as the Oceania qualifier and Kazakhstan from Asia. Newly appointed Scotland Women’s coach, Gary Parker, has just completed the first of the season’s training camps with the Scotland squad. He said: “It’s a tough draw but there are no easy games in the World Cup competition. “Fortunately we have a good opportunity to analyse each of our pool opponents by revisiting our 6 Nations preparation fixture against Sweden, which we won 32-0, while Canada’s match against France this week will also provide some useful footage. “We have just completed an excellent two-day training camp where the intensity of the players was superb. We have a few adjustments to make to improve a few things but I’m confident in the players and the time we have that we will be able to challenge and develop the players for the 6 Nations, first and foremost, and the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup after that. “The 6 Nations is the immediate challenge and priority for us which starts against France at home in February. All of our efforts and concentration will be geared towards that as it’s important that we get our preparation and performances right.” Pool A: New Zealand, Wales, Australia, South Africa Pool B: England, USA, Ireland, Kazakhstan Pool C: France, Canada, Scotland, Sweden – SCOTLAND WOMEN 6 NATIONS FIXTURES -Saturday 6 February – Scotland Women v France Women, Lasswade (kick-off 7pm)*Sunday 14 February – Wales v Scotland (kick-off and venue tbc)Sunday 28 February – Italy v Scotland (kick-off and venue tbc)Saturday 13 March – Scotland Women v England Women, Meggetland (kick-off 1.30pm)Friday 19 March – Ireland v Scotland  (kick-off and venue tbc)* Double header with Scotland Women A – SCOTLAND 2010 WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP, ENGLAND -* Friday 20 August to Sunday 5 September – SCOTLAND WOMEN A FIXTURES -Saturday 28 February – Scotland Women A v Police (kick-off and venue tbc)30 or 31 January (tbc) – Scotland Women A v British Army Saturday 6 February – Scotland A Women v France A Women, Lasswade (kick-off 6pm)** Double header with Scotland v France (6 Nations)