Emily Coubrough comes into the Scotland U20 starting XV at No.8 for Friday’s match versus the hosts Wales (6pm) in the in the Six Nations Women’s Summer Series at Ystrad Mynach’s Centre for Sporting Excellence and will make her debut at this level.
The Biggar product now plays for Edinburgh University and Glasgow and represented Scotland under-18 in 2023 and 2024 so it will be good to see her making the step up.
After impressing off the bench in the 31-17 opening loss to England on Saturday, Biggar and Glasgow’s Poppy Mellanby earns a second cap at this level and starts at 15. That means that Nicole Flynn moves to 13 and she will be captain this time around.
Coubrough has come in for Lily Crisp in a reshaped back-row while Garioch and Edinburgh Rugby tighthead prop Megan Riach and Corstorphine Cougars and Edinburgh scrum-half Emily Love could both debut for the U20s off the bench.
After two games of three it means that 26 of the Scotland 30-strong squad that is at the event have seen action with Scarlett Haddow, Karis Craig, Sophie Price and Louise Tapperell waiting patiently.
Wales lost 27-10 to Ireland on matchday one.
Speaking ahead of the match, Scotland head coach Louise Dalgliesh said: “We’re really happy with the intent and the bravery the team showed against England, we connected both in attack and defence and put some really good blocks together.
“I’m really pleased to see the girls put into practice what we have been working on.
“We’ve reviewed on some of the bits that didn’t quite go right last weekend and we have had a good week of training to prepare ourselves on how to adapt to the different threats that Wales pose.
“We enjoyed a hit-out against Wales as part of our preparations before the competition, so we have a degree of familiarity with them and know what we will need to do to come away with points.”
The other matchday two fixtures on Friday are Italy versus England at 1pm and Ireland versus France at 3.30pm.
Scotland supporters will be able to follow every moment of the action from the Summer Series as all matches will be streamed live on the Six Nations under-20 YouTube channel and the Scottish Rugby website. The final match is versus Ireland on July 17 at 1pm.
Scotland under-20 squad for the Wales game
Poppy Mellanby; Emily Norval, Nicole Flynn (C), Lucy MacRae, Lisa Brown; Ceitidh Ainsworth, Rianna Darroch; Poppy Fletcher (V-C), Aicha Sutcliffe, Eilidh Fleming, Charlotte Russell, Aisha Zameer, Merryn Gunderson, Isobel Twigger, Emily Coubrough. Subs: Megan Hyland, Kaylee McHugh, Megan Riach, Holly Wilson, Lily Crisp, Emily Love, Holly McIntyre, Freya MacColl.
Scotland’s under-20 squad for the Six Nations Women’s Summer Series
Forwards: Emily Coubrough, Karis Craig, Lily Crisp, Eilidh Fleming, Poppy Fletcher, Merryn Gunderson, Megan Hyland, Kaylee McHugh, Sophie Price, Megan Riach, Charlotte Russell, Aicha Sutcliffe, Faye Sutherland, Louise Taperell, Gemma Thomson, Isobel Twigger, Holly Wilson, Aisha Zameer.
Backs: Ceitidh Ainsworth, Lisa Brown, Rianna Darroch, Rebekah Douglas, Nicole Flynn, Scarlett Haddow, Emily Love, Freya MacColl, Lucy MacRae, Holly McIntyre, Poppy Mellanby, Emily Norval.
Tickets for Scotland-England at Murrayfield in April 2026 can be purchased here.
Emily Coubrough, Poppy Mellanby, Megan Riach and Emily Love are pictured – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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