Scotland Women look to finish on a high in Canberra as they bid to end losing run

Scotland Women play their fifth and final game in the WXV Global Series on Friday when they take on Australia in Canberra and the visitors are looking for their first win in the autumn competition.

Interim head coach Dave Butcher has freshened things up in a bid to arrest the losing run.

There is a first Scotland start for Glasgow Warriors hooker Aicha Sutcliffe, selected ahead of the experienced Lana Skeldon who is on the bench.

Aicha Sutcliffe, centre, will make her first Scotland start in Friday's game v Australia while Hannah Ramsay, right, has been switched from full-back to stand-off. Leah Bartlett, left, is on the bench. | SNS Group / SRU

Sarah Bonar returns in the second row after recovering from illness and Chloe Rollie comes back into the starting line-up at full-back.

Backline reshuffle

Hannah Ramsay played at 15 last weekend when Australia beat Scotland 56-12 in Sydney but has been moved to 10 for Friday’s rematch in a backline reshuffle that sees last week’s stand-off Helen Nelson shifted to 12.

There are also two potential debutants from the bench in the form of Glasgow Warriors duo, centre Nicole Flynn and tighthead prop Imogen Spence.

It’s a final throw of the dice for the Scots in the series which opened with heavy home defeats by Canada and New Zealand and continued with back-to-back losses to the Aussies, one in Edinburgh and one in Sydney.

Eight defeats in a row

Scotland have now lost eight games in a row since beating Italy on the opening weekend of this season’s Six Nations. Butcher took charge on an interim basis in August when previous head coach Sione Fukofuka announced his surprise departure after only eight months in the job.

Scotland went into the WXV Global Series ranked seventh in the world, two places above Australia, but have now slipped to ninth while the Wallaroos have climbed to sixth. England remain top, with New Zealand second and Canada third.

Friday’s match in Canberra will kick off at 9.30am UK time and be shown live on RugbyPass TV web channel.

How Scotland Women will line up in Canberra

Scotland Women (v Australia, GIO Stadium, Canberra, Friday, 9.30am BST)

15. Chloe Rollie; 14. Rhona Lloyd, 13. Meryl Smith, 12. Helen Nelson, 11. Katie Buchanan; 10. Hannah Ramsay, 9. Leia Brebner-Holden; 1. Anne Young, 2. Aicha Sutcliffe, 3. Elliann Clarke, 4. Holland Bogan, 5. Sarah Bonar, 6. Rachel Malcolm (capt), 7. Rachel McLachlan, 8. Evie Gallagher. Replacements: 16. Lana Skeldon, 17. Leah Bartlett, 18. Imogen Spence, 19. Hollie Cunningham, 20. Eva Donaldson, 21. Ceitidh Ainsworth, 22. Nicole Flynn, 23. Lucia Scott.