Fraser Brown: I’ve never liked anybody placing restrictions on what I can do - hopefully our players will think the same

I’ve only been involved with the Scotland Women squad for a short time but I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen since head coach Bryan Easson asked me to come on board.

I’ve joined as forwards coach on a consultancy basis and will work with the players up to and during the WXV 2 tournament which begins in South Africa next month.

The team are playing really well but winning WXV 2 last year puts a target on their backs and it will be tough in Cape Town against Italy, Japan and Australia. I think the mindset has changed. There is more expectation but there is a lot of talent in this Scotland squad and our aim is make sure they fully realise that talent on a consistent basis. Our job as coaches is to use all that ability and help turn them into a really skilful, winning team.

Evie Gallagher (left), Alex Stewart (centre) and Emma Wassell are part of the Scotland squad which will travel to South Africa to defend the WXV 2 title. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The whole squad are improving all the time and I’ve seen the evidence in the short time I’ve been involved. There has been a huge improvement in lineout and contact work over the past four weeks. It’s fine doing that in training but the true test will be over the next couple of weeks when we see how we translate that in game situations when there’s fatigue and pressure.

We’ve got games coming up at the Hive in Edinburgh against Wales next Friday then Fiji the following Saturday before we head to South Africa for WXV 2. World Cup qualification places are up for grabs and world ranking will also be really important. We’re sixth at the moment and the aim is to stay there and be in the top two pots of seeds when the World Cup draw is made which should theoretically give you an easier draw to try to qualify for the quarter-finals.

There are a lot of young players in this squad, including some who have come up from the under-20 side that played in the recent summer series in Italy. What has been really impressive is the quality of the players that have come in. They have all worked really hard, their skill-sets are good and their conditioning is good, and every single one of them have added to the competition for places.

I didn’t really know what to expect and in my first week it felt like we had a long way to go in terms of the quality we were producing at set-piece. But by the end of week three it felt as if it was a completely different group of players, and I was impressed by the progress we’ve made and how quickly the players adapted. To be honest, week one was more about learning where we were, and I finished the week thinking that our progress would take a lot longer than it has, and I really must give credit to the players for just how hard they’ve worked to get to where we are now.

We’ve still got a way to go as a team but there are a lot of encouraging signs. However, performance sport is about performing, and winning. There’s no hiding place and with success comes expectation so the challenge is now there for all of us to replicate what we have done in training onto the pitch.

One thing I want to do is to change the players’ mindset around a few things. In week one, for example, two players were not jumping in the lineout. I asked them why and they said it was because they were too short. They are among the most explosive athletes we’ve got. Their power and speed gives them more of an advantage to get in the air than a taller, heavier, and less agile player. It’s just one small example but it’s important to focus on using what we have to make us the best rather than what we don’t have or can’t do. I’ve never liked anybody placing restrictions on what I can or can’t do and hopefully our players will think the same.

I’ve enjoyed the transition from player to coach and I think having a long-term injury helped me adapt. I would have found it difficult if I’d stopped playing in June and then become a coach three or four weeks later. Going from full-time player to full-time coach isn’t easy but because of my knee injury I’ve had a year to adjust. I worked with the forwards at Watsonians then became head coach for the Super Series last season. In between I coached the Glasgow Warriors women’s team’s forwards in the Celtic Challenge.

I really enjoyed it and learned a hell of a lot in terms of the difference between being a player and being a coach. It sounds obvious but it’s more nuanced than you might think and it’s something I really have to work hard at.

So off the back of something really bad - my ACL injury - I’ve been really fortunate to have these experiences over the last 12 months. When Bryan asked me to join the Scotland Women coaching team I took an evening to think about it properly. I was really keen to do it but I had a lot of things to weigh up, particularly around my young family. I think Jen, my wife, had just got used to having me around the house more and then all of a sudden I’m back in a Scotland camp and about to go on tour to South Africa!

But I’m so glad I accepted because I’ve really enjoyed it, working with the players and staff. I love being on the pitch coaching and I think the players have really helped that. It would have been easy for them to see me coming in as a newcomer and be a little bit stand-offish but they’ve fully embraced everything I’ve tried to do and worked really hard. I think we’ve got a pretty decent working relationship, albeit it’s pretty new, but they’ve made it easy for me and really enjoyable.

Going on tour as a coach rather than a player is certainly going to be different. I was chatting to Matt Banahan who is Scotland’s attack coach and he went on his first tour as a coach last year and he said it takes a bit of adjustment. You don’t have down time like you do as a player but I’m looking forward to it.

I think it’s easier when you are in camp because you have more contact with players and more time to chat things through. As a player, you can feel your way into a new environment but you don’t have that time as a coach. Your time working with the squad is limited and from day one I’m trying to instil new things. That’s why I think South Africa will be really good. I’ll be in situ and I’ll be able to get to know people a lot better.

This is the part of the season I miss most as a player - when most of the hard pre-season work has been done and you are starting to feel the benefit of it. But I’m not missing it massively which tells me that I’m OK with not being a part of the Glasgow Warriors squad any more. Of course, I would have loved to have kept on playing but I feel I’m in a nice place. There is no resentment, no sense that something has been taken away from me.

It’s actually going to be really nice to watch Glasgow as a supporter this season. After 12 years playing for them I will be slightly more detached if not exactly neutral and it’s something I’m really looking forward to.