{"id":422193,"date":"2025-09-13T22:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422193\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T22:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:41:14","slug":"scotlands-beautiful-essence-powering-them-in-world-cup-quarter-final-against-england-says-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422193\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s beautiful essence powering them in World Cup quarter-final against England, says Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"

England versus Scotland can so often be pitched as the haves against the have-nots, but what Scotland\u2019s women\u2019s rugby team have is a beautiful togetherness the Red Roses could only dream of, that\u2019s according to Elis Martin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Martin, who is on the bench for Scotland\u2019s Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash with the Auld Enemy on Sunday, is one of two chief hair stylists in the team alongside back row star Evie Gallagher.<\/p>\n

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On the morning of the biggest game of their young careers, the pair will spend hours braiding most of their teammates\u2019 hair, so they are battle ready to go in search of history.<\/p>\n

To some, what athletes do with their hair might be a flippant thing, but when you compare Scotland\u2019s set-up to world number one England\u2019s, who have employed professional braiders, the identity of each team becomes clearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are professional in so many ways, and we don\u2019t take shortcuts in our recovery and our nutrition,\u201d Martin said, as she is quick to praise the team around the team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur manager goes above and beyond to make sure we have the best facilities, the best hotels, the best training times, the best food.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur S&C make sure we have the best programme, the best supplements, whatever else it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we definitely don\u2019t cut corners when it comes to being together. We got a professional braider in a few years ago and she was lovely, but it wasn\u2019t right, and it wasn\u2019t us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there are many cultures in the world where they braid luck, and they braid messages and happiness into people and when they are working together and for us it is an art, and it is a way of connecting and it is a way of being together in those moments before a game and taking breaths together.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is probably not as airy fairy on the day but for me it is so meaningful, and I would feel so empty without having that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will sit around the braiding area and take in the atmosphere, they say they are coming to the salon early so they can be there with the vibes and the chat, and people bring you gifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey appreciate it so much and that validation knowing you are doing something nice for the squad is so the essence of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a squad, we do everything together, doing everything for each other and not one ounce of it is individual. I know the England girls are all friends, but I can say that that is something that is similar, that is the difference I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Scotland will play the team many are calling the champions elect in Bristol at 4pm on Sunday in their first World Cup quarter-final in 23 years.<\/p>\n

Beat England and Bryan Easson\u2019s side would make history, reach a first semi-final and ending the Red Roses win streak before it can break another world record.<\/p>\n

It would also prolong the international career of Jade Konkel, who will retire at the conclusion of this World Cup.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old was Scotland\u2019s first-ever contracted professional women\u2019s rugby player and her retirement comes with a cloud of uncertainty over the women\u2019s team with a long-running contract dispute paused for the World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, Easson\u2019s contract as head coach has already been confirmed to be ending at the conclusion of this tournament despite the success he has guided the team to.<\/p>\n

As much as togetherness has been the buzzword of Scotland\u2019s tournament, so has adversity.<\/p>\n

However, Martin will not allow her side\u2019s history-making to run to be defined by this.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe adversity we have faced is not what drives us, it is each other and we do what we do in spite of what people have done to us, not because of it, that is a really important distinction for us to make.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe deserve support, we deserve help, and we deserve to be treated well and to be seen as equal to other teams and to whoever else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe excel in spite of the adversity not because of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cUs as a squad, we love to go through things, it seems to be our thing. A lot of people have said that they have never met a squad that have had to suffer quite as much as we have, through bereavement, through financial issues, through injury, there is so many things the squad has faced.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the media, you will have seen all the contract discussions, we have a really good conversation that was ongoing until we got here, and we decided as a squad that we were going to shut out the noise and just be us in this bubble and that was the best things we could have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it has allowed us to do, and I speak for myself in this, it has allowed us to be in a different place from where that occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very good at grabbing each other by the collar and pulling ourselves through it and that is not something I have ever had before and even the male staff would say the same, the camaraderie and the culture and the friendship is what brings us through and that is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With more than 400,000 tickets already sold, and prices starting at just \u00a35 for children and \u00a310 for adults, fans are encouraged to secure their tickets now via <\/strong>tickets.rugbyworldcup.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England versus Scotland can so often be pitched as the haves against the have-nots, but what Scotland\u2019s women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,393,4884,144320,28115,4214,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-422193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-hair-stylists","12":"tag-red-roses","13":"tag-rugby-world-cup","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115199402641759291","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422193","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=422193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}