Unless Scotland can summon up the performance of a lifetime then Sunday’s Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final versus England looks very much like it will bring the end of an era.
Head coach Bryan Easson is certainly leaving after the tournament whilst other members of the coaching team are too and some of the more experienced players may decide to call time on their international careers once the Scots’ race is run. Indeed, on Friday night 73 cap Jade Konkel stated she will be stepping down at the end of the competition.
However, Scotland will certainly not be leaving the event without a fight and this group of players have become used to fighting their corner on and off the pitch in recent times.
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Skipper Rachel Malcolm, the back-rower who will be leading the side into battle for a Scottish record 53rd time on Sunday, said: “I don’t think we’ve ever played England with this Scotland team and this level of belief and this level of unity so it’s a different game and it’s a different challenge and one that we couldn’t be more excited for.
“I think it is the biggest game of our careers because we have a huge amount of belief in this team.
“Performances have built week on week while we’ve been at the tournament and I think to be at this stage of a massive event like this, it doesn’t feel like pressure it feels like an honour and a privilege and we want to go out and do the jersey justice – we’re incredibly excited.”
Malcolm mentioned that the game will be a challenge – and it is just the latest challenge in what has been a tough few months to say the least.
The news that Easson will be stepping down post-tournament was announced in July and caught many off guard. He was appointed to the role full-time in December 2020 after leading the team as interim head coach from August that year.
The team have won 21, lost 25 and drawn one so far during Easson’s interim/full-time period in charge. Given that 21 wins and a draw have come in 47 matches in five year under him and it had taken Scotland from 2006 to early in 2020 to win and draw the same amount of games previously, many would say his tenure has been a roaring success.
Highs have included winning the WXV 2 title in 2023, reaching two World Cups, the record breaking seven wins in a row during 2023 and 2024 and reaching an all-time high of five in the world rankings in September last year.
As a result, some would have preferred him to stay on post-event and build on this run to the knock-out stages with the current sixth best team in the world while others, including the Scottish Rugby hierarchy it would seem, feel it is time for a new voice.
We have been told that it was Easson’s own decision to step down – the coming days may reveal more regarding that – and before the tournament 34-year-old Malcolm said that the build-up had been “very disruptive”.
That was due to the timing of the Easson news dropping and contract negotiations being tricky between players and the governing body right up until they departed for England.
Off the back of that there seems to have been an ‘us and them’ vibe in the air between the squad and Scottish Rugby hierarchy since.
Malcolm said last weekend that the playing group and backroom staff have “battened down the hatches” to avoid outside noise. And on Friday she added: “I’m not that fussed about what anyone else outside our group thinks about us and I never have been.
“What I care about is the people in this group – the management team and the players – and I’ll protect them at all costs.”
The players as a unit have done well to put other issues aside to beat Wales and Fiji and push Canada hard to finish second in Pool B in recent weeks.
But the future direction of the women’s game at the top level in the country currently seems uncertain.
For example, the phrase “as Scottish Rugby prepares to transition professional women’s rugby back to Scotland” was used in the press release regarding Easson’s departure and it left some people scratching their heads.
Professional women’s rugby has never technically been in Scotland before and getting players who are currently with PWR or French sides to relocate to play for Edinburgh Rugby or Glasgow Warriors going forward may be a hard sell.
That is all for another day though.
Right now, Scotland have to focus on the England match at Ashton Gate in Bristol and believe that they can cause the mother of all upsets against the world number one team and tournament favourites even if few others believe they can give the Red Roses any real concerns.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Average Points scored
Since they began playing Test rugby in 1993, Scotland have beaten England just twice – in the 1998 Home Nations in Edinburgh 8-5 on their way to a Grand Slam and in the 1999 European Championships in Italy 15-13.
They have lost 32 times and, since Easson took over, five defeats have come with the most recent a 59-7 reverse in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations in April this year in Leicester.
Scotland’s most capped ever player with 115 appearances, Donna Kennedy, played in both of the victories against England and earlier this week said the current crop of players would have to “rattle” their opponents on Sunday to have any chance of pulling a positive result out of the bag.
If Scotland are to compete on both sides of the ball versus John Mitchell’s women then two performances from Easson’s time in charge could give them the blueprint.
Way back in October 2020 in Easson’s interim game at the helm, the defensive effort from the Scots to draw 13-13 at Scotstoun versus France in a delayed, behind closed doors Covid Six Nations match was out of this world.
The players put their bodies on the line that day and they will need to do so again at the weekend.
And, in attack, they will want to replicate the clinical nature of the performance they put in at Salford Community Stadium a few weeks ago to defeat Wales 38-8.
Scotland will also need their big players to stand up in this clash against the old enemy and although the experienced cohort will have to do a stellar job all eyes might be on three world class younger players in the shape of number eight Evie Gallagher, centre Emma Orr and six-try winger Francesca McGhie.
For the quarter-final, Christine Belisle, who was just called into the wider squad this week due to other injuries, comes in to start at tighthead prop.
The aforementioned Konkel comes in at number eight with Evie Gallagher shifting to number seven and Rachel McLachlan moving to the bench. Molly Wright has also earned a bench spot.
The result at Ashton Gate will not define this group of players as they have put Scottish women’s rugby on the map in recent years.
However, what is to come next remains anyone’s guess.