There is no doubt about the size of the task facing Scotland: to progress to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals they will have to pull off one of the biggest shocks in the tournament\u2019s history to knock out the favourites, England. The old rivalry will reignite in Bristol on Sunday but the bragging rights between the two nations have not belonged to Scotland since 1999. They have lost to England in their last 27 meetings with an aggregate score of 1,351-117. You also have to go back to 2021 for the last time Scotland scored double digits against England in a single game.<\/p>\n
However, Scotland fans fear not. This is knockout rugby and as every player and coach this week has said: anything can happen. England are huge favourites to progress to the last four, where France or Ireland will be the opponent, but Scotland will hope to make more history in this tournament. They have reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 with a stunning win against Wales as well as a victory against Fiji. They also gave the world No 2 side, Canada, a proper fight in their final pool game but lost 40-19.<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s performances have come in spite of contract negotiations blighting the buildup to the tournament. The wing Rhona Lloyd has said that half of the squad will not have contracts beyond this competition and in context it makes their results that much more impressive. The team are aiming for the win against the Red Roses but they are under no illusions about just how tough it will be to overcome their rivals.<\/p>\n
The defence coach, Tyrone Holmes, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a huge challenge and they are the best team in the world. There are chinks in the armour though, no team is perfect. It\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve been underdogs, and yes, it will have to be one of our best performances, but we relish that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teams last met during the 2025 Women\u2019s Six Nations where England came out 59-7 winners. That victory was England\u2019s 24th in a row but they have continued to win and are now on 30. A win over Scotland would break their own world record of consecutive victories.<\/p>\n
The Red Roses will have to get across the line without their star full-back, Ellie Kildunne, unavailable because of concussion protocol, opening the door for Helena Rowland. The 25-year-old, who has also played at fly-half this World Cup, said of their opposition: \u201cWe know them pretty well, there are a lot at Loughborough Lightning and the PWR as a whole so you are playing with or against them most weekends. It goes both ways in that we know exactly how they want to play but they know exactly how we want to play. It makes things slightly harder.<\/p>\n
Zoe Aldcroft, the England captain, will return to the side against Scotland after recovering from her knee injury. Photograph: Tom Sandberg\/PPAUK\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some things to solve of our own after Australia. It\u2019s always a fun one when you are playing against your friends, there is a slightly different dynamic to it but it\u2019s all about the team for the 80 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
England will also be without the prop Hannah Botterman who is not included in the matchday squad after coming off against Australia with injury. Kelsey Clifford, who scored two tries last weekend, starts in Botterman\u2019s stead.<\/p>\n
Some good news for England supporters comes with the captain, Zoe Aldcroft, coming back into the side after recovering from her knee injury. Sadia Kabeya and Alex Matthews are alongside the captain in the back row with Maddie Feaunati on the bench.<\/p>\n
Scotland make just two changes to their starting team with Jade Konkel coming in at No 8, which will potentially be her final international cap as she has announced she will retire from Scotland duty after this World Cup. Christine Belisle starts at loosehead prop with Elliann Clarke and Lisa Cockburn ruled out with injury.<\/p>\n
Rachel Malcolm will also captain the team for the 53rd time which is a new record across all Scotland representative teams. The Scotland head coach, Bryan Easson, who will depart his role after the World Cup, had high praise for his captain, saying: \u201cShe epitomises what we are about. She is a leader, has passion, pride. If you look at the progress this team has made over the years Rachel is at the heart of it on and off the pitch, the way she speaks and the way she plays \u2026 Honestly I just bow down.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the first quarter-final this Scotland squad have ever played and Malcolm says it is the biggest match of their careers. \u201cIt is a different type of pressure, no one expects us to win,\u201d Malcolm said. \u201cThat is where we thrive. It is the biggest game of our career because we have a huge amount of belief in this team and the performances have built week-on-week while we have been here.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cTo be at this stage and to be in the top eight teams in a competition is massive not just for this group but for Scotland women\u2019s rugby and the history of this game. It doesn\u2019t feel like pressure, it feels like an honour and a privilege that we want to do justice.\u201d<\/p>\n New Zealand v South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n Anything other than a New Zealand win would constitute a colossal upset. The six-time champions go into this game after a masterclass 40-0 defeat of Ireland, whereas South Africa lost 57-10 to France in their final pool match. \u201cI think the pressure if you\u2019re underdogs is on them,\u201d said South Africa\u2019s coach Swys de Bruin, who has made 10 changes to the starting XV from the France game. The Black Ferns have lost Amy du Plessis to a shoulder injury for the remainder of the tournament. AFP. <\/strong>Saturday 1pm, Sandy Park, Exeter. <\/strong><\/p>\n Canada v Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n World No 2 Canada, who beat Australia 45-7 in Brisbane during the Pacific Four series in May, have yet to lose to the Wallaroos in seven previous encounters. \u201cI think we\u2019ve put ourselves in a good position, but also in a position of pressure,\u201d said Canada\u2019s captain, Alex Tessier. \u201cPressure is a privilege and we\u2019re looking forward to a good battle.\u201d Australia have already met expectations by getting this far, with coach Jo Yapp \u2013 a former England captain \u2013 saying: \u201cWe had an aim to make the quarters to give ourselves a shot and the players have achieved that.\u201d AFP. <\/strong>Saturday 4pm, <\/strong>Ashton Gate, Bristol.<\/p>\n France v Ireland<\/strong><\/p>\n An intriguing quarter-final. France won 27-15 when the teams met in this season\u2019s Six Nations but after losing centre Gabrielle Vernier to a 20th-minute red card, Ireland came within two points of them at one stage of the game. Six Nations player of the tournament Aoife Water, who scored twice that day, makes her first appearance of the World Cup tomorrow after a knee injury. After a slow start Les Bleues look to be finding their best form. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown we want to play,\u201d said France back Lina Queyroi. \u201cWe want to move the ball, to tire them out physically.\u201d AFP. <\/strong>Sunday, 1pm, Sandy Park, Exeter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no doubt about the size of the task facing Scotland: to progress to the Rugby World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-419185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115192926328688420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}