Scotland Women now have more inner belief that they can win a Six Nations match, according to captain Lisa Martin.
Her side takes on Wales this evening at Broadwood (6.20pm) and the performance of the current crop of players against Ireland in this year’s opener earlier in the month was impressive.
They went down 22-15 in the end and took great heart from that showing.
That same weekend, Wales laboured to a 20-8 away win in Italy while both sides lost heavily last time out, Scotland 55-0 in France and the Welsh 63-0 at home to England.
Centre Martin said: “Ireland was a massive game for us, on the face of it we lost the game, but for us to be in it for 80 minutes I think has really given the girls a bit more inner belief that we can compete with these sides.
“The France match was tough, they just got their offloading game going and some of our girls had not played in front of such a big crowd before.
“However, the pleasing thing for me is that nobody went into their shells after it and there was no blaming each other, we have stuck together and come up with a game plan that we think can trouble the Welsh.”
Scotland Women: Rollie; Gaffney, Thomson, Martin, Lloyd; Nelson, Law; Balmer, Skeldon, Smith, Wassell, McCormack, Forsyth, McMillan, Konkel. Subs: Park, Lockhart, Dougan, Bonar, O'Donnell, Maxwell, Sinclair, Harris.
Wales Women: Hywel; Joyce, Lake, De Filippo, Evans; Snowsill, Parker; Hale, Phillips, Evans, Rowe, Clay, Butchers, Taylor, Harries. Subs: Harries, Pyrs, Thomas, Lillicrap, Davies, Moore, Wilkins, Rowland.
Scotland Under-20 stand-off Josh Henderson says the influence of his mentor Finn Russell has been crucial in allowing him to strike a better balance between his natural attacking instincts and the need to play the percentages.
The 19-year-old has come straight back into the team for tonight’s clash against Wales at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld [kick-off 8.30pm] after missing the France match two weeks ago with a bug, and he has been instructed to get the ball wide to the likes of Darcy Graham and Ross McCann on the wings whenever possible – but the Glasgow Hawks youngster also knows that there will be times when a more disciplined approach is necessary.
“In the first two games of this Six Nations we’ve kept things quite tight, we’ve been pretty conservative, but that’s a positive because that’s what we’ve been practicing. Hopefully on Friday night you’ll see us chucking the ball about a bit more,” he said.
“My main feedback all the time is that I need to improve my tactical control,” he continued. “Finn Russell is my mentor at Glasgow Warriors and we speak about that a lot because he gets the same feedback, and I met with him on the Wednesday before the Ireland game and went through things he’s done in the past to help himself out. The main thing I took out of it is not playing what is in front of me but planning two phases ahead to give myself time on the ball, which has helped me a lot.”
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