score and latest updates from the Women’s Six Nations

Good day and welcome to live coverage of England v Scotland in the Women’s Six Nations 2023 as the home side begin their campaign to win their fifth consecutive title, fourth Grand Slam and seventh Triple Crown (thereby completing the unfinished Covid -years are eliminated). We’ve heard a great deal beforehand about Sarah Hunter’s hometown farewell performance for England and Simon Middleton’s Swansong Championship at the helm of the Red Roses, but precious little about those at the other stage of her career, such as. B. Scotland Francesca McGhie, who makes her debut at Kingston Park this afternoon. in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations 2023 opener against England on Saturday.

Scotland may not have beaten England since 1999, starting the game 100-1 to win or even draw, but head coach Bryan Easson finally has a professional lineup to work with and championed McGhie’s raw, gutsy approach, perhaps as inspiration for his page. What can she bring, he was asked. “Fearless. Excitement. Lots of pace.

“Fran was involved with the Pathway last year, she’s fairly new to the game. She’s a winger who has real pace. She has scored five tries with The Thistles, our new team in Scotland who are bridging the gap between club and international level. She was outstanding in those games. Give her a little space and she’ll show what she can do and I think the fact that she’s also 19 doesn’t know much about the game but that really says to me there’s a lot of excitement in there .”

The Scottish squad enter this tournament under different circumstances after Scottish Rugby announced last December that 28 players had been signed professionally as part of their continued investment in women’s football.

Easson welcomed the move but believes it will take time for material benefits to materialize. “There’s no doubt that professionalism makes a big difference,” he said. “As coaches, we naturally want performance on the field to increase. That doesn’t happen overnight. For me it was mainly the things off the field. We don’t have to play on a Saturday and bring them back in on a Sunday because they have to go to work on a Monday.

“For the last four weeks we have been able to hold camps during the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and rest them. You no longer train at night after a day at work. That was the big difference – all around rest and recovery – which allows us as coaches to ramp up training intensity to competition intensity, which improves performance over the long term. So that was the big thing.”

Scotland won the Wooden Spoon last year with five defeats, including today’s opponents’ 57-5 loss. Easson knows the magnitude of the task ahead but expects “consistent performance” from his part.

He said: “We’ve played against England in the past and played well for 20 or 25 minutes and then broke down. For me, it’s that consistent 80-minute performance. We will be under pressure sometimes because we play the best team in the world.

“So it’s about consistent performances from us to stay with them for 80 minutes. We’ve lost the last nine games, but six of those games have been within a score in terms of bonus points.

“We want to turn those closer games into one or two point wins, not two or three point losses.”