Scotland head coach Sione Fukofuka wants his players to embrace the occasion when they take on world champions England in front of a record crowd at Murrayfield tomorrow.
Around 30,000 spectators are set to descend on the national stadium for the Women’s Six Nations clash — only the ninth time the women’s team will have played there in their history.
The first seven of those were played as double headers alongside men’s games, whilst the most recent occasion six years ago was on a snowy Monday afternoon in front of a handful of people behind closed doors when Scotland played England after Scotstoun had been deemed unplayable thanks to Storm Ciara the day before.
Now captain Rachel Malcolm and her charges have the iconic Edinburgh ground all to themselves and while defending champions England will start as massive favourites — Scotland haven’t beaten them since 1999 — Fukofuka wants the squad to be confident.
‘What we’ve spoken about is just embracing the occasion,’ he said. ‘We understand that it is a big occasion and that we’re very lucky to have the opportunity to have so many people supporting us while we play at Murrayfield.
‘We use that to uplift the performance, there’s no weight on our shoulders.
Fukofuka has challenged his players to embrace the test of facing England
Shona Campbell powers clear against Wales to get the Scots’ Six Nations campaign up and running
‘Probably the key area for us in terms of performance is that we stay in the moment, stay connected and present. If we can do that, we’re pretty confident that the performance will be where it needs to be.
‘England are a strong team, but, from our point of view, we’re just going to soak in the energy and the atmosphere and really pull from it.
‘The pressure is on England in terms of an expectation on them to win every game so, from our point of view, we want to express ourselves and really unlock some of our strengths that are sitting there waiting to be unleashed.’
After the 24-19 win over Wales in Cardiff last week, there is just one change to the Scotland starting team. With key player Emma Orr out with a knee injury, Evie Wills comes in at outside centre.
Back-row Rachel McLachlan and winger Francesca McGhie are among the subs having recovered from calf and shoulders injuries respectively.
Scotland team to face England: Rollie (Toulon), Lloyd (Sale), Wills (Sale), Smith (Bristol), Campbell (Sale); Nelson (Loughborough), Brebner-Holden (Loughborough); Bartlett (Sale, Skeldon (Bristol), Clarke (Bristol), Wassell (Trailfinders), Cunningham (Bristol), Malcolm (Trailfinders) capt, Stewart (Edinburgh), Coubrough (Glasgow.
