Scotland women’s forwards coach Fraser Brown has been impressed with No.8 Evie Gallagher since he began working with her in pre-season.
The duo are currently in Cape Town, South Africa, along with the other backroom staff and players preparing for Saturday’s second WXV 2 match with Japan (1pm UK time on Saturday in the Athlone Sports Stadium and live on BBC iPlayer and RugbyPass TV).
In game one, 24-year-old Stirling County product Gallagher, was named player of the match on her 30th cap as Scotland defeated Italy 19-0 in the DHL Stadium in wet and windy conditions last weekend.
In that game Gallagher made 22 carries, 17 tackles and five turnovers to lead the charge and Brown, the former men’s internationalist who joined the coaching set-up in the summer, said: “She is very quiet Evie, you don’t get much out of her, but she is an excellent player.
“Last year in the league down south she was Bristol’s go to player for momentum and it is no different in here. She carries, makes tackles and hits a lot of rucks – I think 20-25 at the weekend – and she has quality when she is on the ball. She is a good carrier, she has good skills, she is a good jumper in the lineout and she has just really impressed me.
“She is quiet, she just goes about her business and I think she leads really well. We have talked a lot about growing leadership, obviously we have Rach [Malcolm, the captain] who is a fantastic leader and we are looking at growing leadership below that and Evie is a part of that.
“The talent and the quality she has makes that easy for her because she leads by example and when she does speak people prick their ears up and listen.”
Meanwhile, Scotland were pleased with certain aspects of their win over Italy, but were frustrated at not getting a four try bonus point and “can still be better” as the tournament goes on, says Brown.
As mentioned, they are now are preparing to take on a Japan team who were edged out 31-24 by South Africa in their opener and who are certainly an opponent that cannot be taken lightly.
“It was really pleasing to win first and foremost, the conditions were like a Scottish summer in the second half and it wasn’t the easiest so with that in mind to leave them pointless was a big bonus,” Brown said about the Italy game.
“We feel a bit frustrated too though because we feel like we left a couple of tries and a number of opportunities out there.
“It is a good place to be in when you are winning 19-0 against a team that have traditionally been tough opponents and you are still able to pick the bones out of it and say ‘actually we need to be better here, here and here and we should have scored more points’.
“Forwards-wise, set piece-wise we were okay, there was some excellent stuff that we did and then at other times we were just a bit inconsistent.
“We will keep working on things just to iron out that inconsistency and keep pushing our execution to be as good as it can be.
“We can still be better.
“When you watch Japan they are a very well drilled team, like most Japanese sides male and female are, they have a very good skill set and are very good technically.
“Like most teams at Test level, if you aren’t ‘on it’ and you’re operating at 80%, you will have a very difficult day. The mindset shift we’ve been pushing is we have to perform to our best every single game, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against.”
The Scotland matchday 23 to play Japan will be named on Thursday.
Scotland women’s squad at 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)
Louise McMillan (Saracens)
Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears)
Aila Ronald (University of Edinburgh)
Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars)
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)
Evie Gallagher is pictured with her player of the match award earned versus Italy, thanks to World Rugby/WXV 2
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