The Scotland captain and head coach were full of praise for the latest Scotland players after they made their debuts on Saturday.
Tighthead prop Molly Poolman and second-row Becky Boyd, both 20, came off the bench in the 35-18 round two Guinness Women’s Six Nations loss to France.
Given that the match was played at a sold-out Stade Marcel-Deflandre in La Rochelle against one of the best teams in the world, it was certainly some introduction for Poolman and Boyd to that level of the game, but they handled it admirably.
Poolman, who came through the ranks at Howe of Fife and now plays for Watsonians and Edinburgh Rugby, came on in the 17th minute when fellow Fifer Elliann Clarke had to have a head injury assessment.
Clarke returned 10 minutes later, but cap number 243 Poolman joined the fray again later in the 77th minute while Boyd, of Loughborough Lightning, had come on in the 68th minute for Adelle Ferrie.
Captain Rachel Malcolm said: “Molly is someone who would have probably been capped sooner if she had not had some unfortunate injuries in the last couple of years, but she has kept a smile on her face and kept fighting and her performances in the Celtic Challenge for Edinburgh were excellent and she absolutely deserved the nod to be involved versus France.
“She did a good job and she looked at home on the pitch as did Becky. I told them both to enjoy it and I think they did.
“Both of them have huge futures ahead of them which is super exciting.
“Becky is someone that I have worked with closely for the last couple of seasons and she has really thrived coming in here.
“She is not someone who is the loudest person and she is coming into an international environment and performed even better than in a club environment and that is testament to how much this means to her.
“She was commanding in how she carried and how she dealt with the lineout when she came on and similar to Adelle last week she took her chance and ran with it.
“She has had a tough year on and off the pitch so it says everything about her character that she was able to come in here and take this opportunity.
Head coach Bryan Easson added: “Molly and Becky have both been great and it is testament to them as two 20-year-olds and it is also testament to the leaders and the senior players around them for helping them out.
“It is tough to come into an environment like this and we had a long travel day on Thursday so they may have been a bit nervous, but they didn’t show it and to come on and do as well as they did shows a lot about the character of them and the culture of this group that we have created.
“The effort and the fight is undoubted with this group and we are genuinely all excited for the next three games.
“We will rest and get ready for tough games coming. We will learn and we will move on.”
Scotland have won one and lost one in the tournament now and the squad will meet up again next week to prepare for the round three clash with Italy at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on April 13.
As well as France beating the Scots at the weekend, England defeated Wales 67-12 in Cardiff and Ireland won 54-12 in Italy.
The Guinness Women’s Six Nations runs from March 22 to April 26 and, next up, Scotland are at Hive Stadium in round three versus Italy on April 13 – get tickets for the two Scotland remaining home games here.
Molly Poolman and Becky Boyd are pictured on their debut weekends
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