Balmer to lead from the front row

Tracy Balmer may speak with an English twang, but there will be nobody working harder for the cause today when Scotland women open their Six Nations campaign with a home match against their counterparts from south of the Border.

The 29-year-old prop captains the Scots at Lasswade’s New Hawthornden ground in Bonnyrigg (5pm), having only made her debut just over a year ago against Spain.

In a short period the Worcester player has impressed head coach Karen Findlay with her leadership qualities and when back-row Susie Brown, the usual skipper, was ruled out of this one she had no qualms handing the captaincy to her.

In her own words Balmer was “brought up all over the place” as her father was in the Army, but the fact that he hailed from Ayr meant that she qualified to play for Scotland and she is grasping the opportunity with both hands.

She said: “It is just such an honour to be asked to captain your country and when Karen called me up to tell me that I would be leading the team out against England it gave me a real buzz.

“Since I got involved in the international set-up, I have tried to give of my best each time and I will aim to lead by example in this match and help my team-mates through and if we work as a unit we will be just fine.”

Balmer wins her eighth cap in a front-row also comprising Heather Lockhart and Sarah Quick, but in just her fifth cap last year she found out just how handy England are. Scotland were humbled 89-0 at Twickenham. Balmer said: “That was a really tough day, but we all sat in the dressing room after and made a pact with each other that we would never let ourselves down like that again.”