Scotland Women now reaping rewards of greater squad depth, says Bryan Easson

Scotland players celebrate at full time during a TikTok Women's Six Nations match between Scotland and Ireland at the DAM Health Stadium, on April 29, 2023, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The Scots defeated Ireland 36-10 with a bonus point on Saturday evening to back up the victory against Italy seven days previously and finish fourth in the table.

It is the first time Scotland have won two games on the bounce in the tournament since 2006 and it means they will go into the second tier of the new WXV event being run by World Rugby later this year.

Details of that should be confirmed in the next few weeks and at the DAM Health Stadium in Edinburgh in front of a record home tournament crowd of 4,862 at the weekend this team showed they are going in the right direction.

In previous years Easson has at times been reluctant to use the bench or bring in new faces, but 28 professional contracts handed out late last year, the Scotland Futures having more time together and the Thistles playing in the Celtic Challenge a few months ago has started to engender real competition for starting places.

Contracted players Molly Wright, Lisa Cockburn, Sarah Bonar, Emma Wassell and Jenny Maxwell (all injured) and Rhona Lloyd and Shona Campbell (GB Sevens) missed the tournament, yet Scotland still found a way to get two wins.

Young players like Francesca McGhie (19), Emma Orr (20), Meryl Smith (21), Eva Donaldson (21), Elliann Clarke (22) and Evie Gallagher (22) have really stepped up and Easson said: “The thing that is making us [the coaching staff] proud is the squad that we’re building.

“We’ve got some real senior players that are not playing, but we’re building a group. That’s two wins with some junior players in terms of cap numbers involved, so what we’re building is so much better now. That real depth is building and that’s probably the most pleasing thing. We’ve not got a squad of 23, we’ve got around 35 players who can play at this level now.”

Ireland, who finished bottom of the table, led 3-0 for much of the first half at the weekend, but a try by player of the match Smith came just before half-time. Lana Skeldon and Ireland skipper Nichola Fryday swapped tries to make it 10-10 after 54 minutes before Scotland began to motor. Leah Bartlett scored try number three before a wonderful solo effort from McGhie secured the bonus point and then skipper Rachel Malcolm and Chloe Rollie both crossed to put the icing on the cake.

“The second half was brilliant, the team were relentless,” Easson said. “We weren’t overly happy in the first half as we gave up some easy ball when we got into good positions. The try just before the interval probably gave us a little bit of an edge going in [to the dressing room]. At half-time we said ‘let’s just look after the ball, let’s keep it and they’ll get frustrated’.

“We weren’t annoyed at half-time, it was just about being patient. We knew the space would come. And the second half was outstanding, it was an all-round team performance. We fired shots at the right time and we scored some brilliant tries, seeing Fran getting her first one at this level and Rachel scoring, too, was really good.”