Scotland head coach Bryan Easson is generally content with how the self-titled ‘14 month journey’ that ends with the Rugby World Cup is going and everyone involved will now take a step back, reset and start again in June.
That is when the first pre-World Cup training camp takes place as the build up to the big event really starts to ramp up ahead of the matches in England in August and September.
The ‘journey’ began last July and since then Scotland have won six Test matches and lost four over the September Tests, WXV 2 and the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
The latter event maybe quite did not hit the high points the coach was hoping for, but one definite high was the round five 26-19 triumph over Ireland with a bonus point.
“That type of battling performance that the players put in against Ireland is what this squad are all about,” Easson said.
“We knew that type of performance was in us. Before the Ireland game we looked back on all the other games in the tournament and there were patches where those games just got away from us.
“That didn’t happen against Ireland and we have to hold onto why it didn’t happen and remember the feeling that we had at the end.
“The group are so good at learning, they are very diligent with their reviews and looking back at games and we just didn’t give Ireland a foothold in this last game because of what we had learnt and we have to keep that up going forward into the next matches that we play.
“We talked leading into the Ireland game around how do we want to feel during May before we meet back up again and I think the players answered that with their performance because they were feeling sky high just after the match and I want them to remember that feeling during May while they have some well-deserved down time and then we can come back refreshed in June ready to go again.
“The points that we have made since the Ireland game about how we fight and how we battle are great, but we have to keep building and kick on as well because we know that every team will be looking to peak at the World Cup and we want to do that as well.
“There is a lot of hard work to come, but for now I want the players to remember the amazing feeling they felt after the Ireland game, get some down time, rest and reset.”
Bryan Easson is pictured speaking to the BBC after the Ireland game
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