Lana Skeldon admits she never thought the day would come during her career when she would be playing a standalone fixture for Scotland in front of nearly 30,000 supporters at Murrayfield.
But that day is here and, ahead of the Women’s Six Nations clash with world champions England in Edinburgh, Skeldon can barely contain her excitement.
The Hawick-raised hooker, Scotland’s most experienced player, will be earning her 86th cap in this much-anticipated contest and that will put her level with Karen Findlay in third place in Scotland women’s all-time caps list.
Only Donna Kennedy (115) and Heather Lockhart (89) have represented Scotland more times, but when Skeldon’s international journey began in 2011, days like this one seemed like a pipe dream.
Her debut came at a modest club ground in front of a small crowd in Amsterdam in late 2011 when she had just turned 18.
Scotland won that one versus the Netherlands 33-10, but Skeldon had to wait three years until cap No 2 arrived away to Italy in a 45-5 loss in the 2014 Six Nations, in a contest played at a club ground in Rome.
Skeldon admits the growth of women’s rugby has taken her pleasantly by surprise
Her first home cap came soon after in a 69-0 defeat to France, with the game held at Lasswade’s Hawthornden ground in Bonnyrigg. No official attendance figure was recorded that day, but it would have been a few hundred at most.
‘My first home venue with Scotland was Lasswade,’ the now 32-year-old recounts. ‘When we were at Lasswade it was never like “Whoa, there’s a big crowd here”. The supporters were loud, don’t get me wrong, but the banking on the far side, for instance, wasn’t full even if the one small stand that is there was.
‘To come from that to then being in front of 30,000 people, it’s actually quite mesmerising, to be honest. It’s quite hard to digest at times, but obviously I’m just absolutely buzzing.
‘I didn’t think in my time of playing a game and an occasion like the one we are getting ready for would ever happen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely buzzing that I’m still playing at the top level when this chance has come around, but I thought we’d have more likely seen it in five years’ time or something.
‘I’m obviously so grateful to be part of it and it just shows how rapidly the women’s game in Scotland and throughout the world has grown.’
England arrive in the Scottish capital having beaten Ireland 33-12 in round one of the Six Nations at Twickenham — and that game set a tournament crowd record of 77,120.
Last September, the same stadium had a sold-out crowd of 81,885 there to see England beat Canada in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final.
Can Skeldon ever envisage the day when Scotland’s women can fill the 67,144 capacity Murrayfield?
‘I’d love it if that did happen,’ said the Bristol Bears star, who played 71 minutes in the opening 24-19 win over Wales in Cardiff last week. ‘I think the way the game’s growing, I don’t see why not.
Skeldon tries in vain to stop England’s Zoe Aldcroft in last year’s World Cup quarter-final loss
‘I’ll try and hang on for that, but, yeah, I think in the next three or four years, I can see it happening.’
In total, the women’s national team has played eight games at Murrayfield before.
The first seven of those were played as double headers alongside men’s games and the latter — versus England — was on its own but was played behind closed doors due to Storm Ciara rendering Scotstoun unplayable.
And there is often a storm on the pitch when England are in town. The Red Roses have not lost to Scotland since 1999 and have won 28 match ups in a row between the old rivals. In 33 meetings since the first one in 1994, England have won 31 and Scotland just two.
England are also after a 35th Test win on the spin and Skeldon concluded: ‘It is just relentless when you play England, they are so powerful, but we want to show everyone just how much we have grown.
‘It’s going to be quite a spectacle.’
