Eight wins out of the last 11 Tests stretching back to the tail end of the 2023 Six Nations means that Scotland have moved up to number six in the World Rugby rankings as the 2024/25 season begins and then the run into the Rugby World Cup 2025 next August and September.
The next hurdle for the Scots, whose first competitive match since they were beaten in Ireland in late April is a Vodafone Series clash with Wales this coming Friday evening at Hive Stadium (7.35pm), is to try and break into the world’s top five.
That will take some doing given the strength in depth and the finance especially numbers one, two and four – England, New Zealand and France – have while number three Canada have been on an amazing run and number five Australia are always a tough nut to crack.
Scotland will get a chance to crack that latter nut soon at the WXV 2 tournament in South Africa, but all focus just now is on Wales, who are number eight in the rankings and always a very tough nut to crack, as the Scots look to build on their recent four-week pre-season block.
“We want to be competing with the top five teams in the world,” captain Rachel Malcolm said recently.
“We know that we are probably just on the edge of that at the minute, we are still not comfortably there and there is still a lot of work to do, but that is what drives us every day and I think having had that little taste of victory at WXV 2 last year has definitely given us more incentive.
“We were on the back of 12 losses at one point [between March 2022 and April 2023] and it was tough, but I think if as a group we can get through those times then we can definitely keep improving now and I think that is what we are seeing.”
To keep on an upward curve and perhaps start challenging the top five, what does back-rower Malcolm thinks the team needs to improve on?
“For me, our contact area needs to be better,” she stated.
“That’s probably been a consistent theme for us for the last couple of years, we’re not always as tough in the contact area as we should be, both with the ball in hand and also as clearers so I think [if we can improve there] that will allow us to play the way we want to play.
“We have the fitness and we have the speed to play a fast game of rugby, but if you are not physical and clinical enough across that breakdown, then the ball is not going to be available.
“That’s definitely a pretty easy fix, easy in the sense that it is one area, but it is a very technical area and teams are getting more and more savvy around it so we need to match that.
“I think our lineout has a lot of scope for improvement. Just adding some detail to it is going to be big. You’re seeing now at Test match level how difficult it is to win your lineout, because teams are getting so good at defending, so we can definitely move that on.
“And I think just being more clinical when we have the ball. I think our conversion rate probably isn’t where we’d like it to be, particularly with our ‘gold zone’ entries at times. Wales last year was a good example of that – we spent a huge amount of time in their ‘22’, but we just didn’t manage to convert.
“Those are the three key areas where I definitely think we can get some bang for our buck this season.”
After a week off, Scotland are now back in camp at Oriam preparing for the Wales game.
Scotland women’s squad for the Vodafone Series and WXV 2 (uncapped in bold)
Forwards
Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers)
Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning)
Sarah Bonar (Harlequins)
Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears)
Lisa Cockburn (Gloucester Hartpury)
Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers)
Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears)
Jade Konkel (Harlequins)
Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning)
Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning)
Fiona McIntosh (Saracens)
Rachel McLachlan (Montpellier)
Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears)
Aila Ronald (University of Edinburgh)
Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars)
Emma Wassell (Loughborough Lightning)
Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning)
Backs
Leia Brebner-Holden (Gloucester-Hartpury/Cheltenham Tigers)
Coreen Grant (Saracens)
Caity Mattinson (Ealing Trailfinders)
Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs)
Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers)
Rhona Lloyd (GB 7s/ Stade Bordelais)
Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning)
Emma Orr (Bristol Bears)
Rachel Philipps (Sale Sharks)
Lisa Thomson (GB 7s/Ealing Trailfinders)
Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders)
Lucia Scott (Hartpury University/Gloucester Hartpury)
Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears)
Rachel Malcolm is pictured at the recent Vodafone press event at Murrayfield
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