Head coach Louise Dalgliesh was impressed by her team’s desire to move the ball and play with clarity as they put in a good showing before being beaten by England at Ystrad Mynach’s Centre for Sporting Excellence in their Six Nations Women’s Summer Series opener on Saturday evening.
A match report from the game in Wales can be found here, but the Scots tries came from centre Holly McIntyre, winger Emily Norval and sub Poppy Mellanby with centre Lucy MacRae converting one in the 31-17 reverse.
Dalgliesh said after the game: “I thought that the clarity that we played with in terms of our intention to move the ball and cause England problems was really impressive.
“I’m just really proud of the connection, how the players worked on the field to identify what was happening then adapted to those different pictures that they were seeing.
“We have worked really hard on our connections on both sides of the ball and we saw those starting to come together here.”
Highlights can be found here.
Five talking points from the game…
Charlotte Russell was excellent
The Watsonians second-row recently won the Sarah Beaney Cup with her club and had a strong 2024/25 with them and she clearly brought confidence from that into this game.
She was important at lineout time and carried hard in the loose, never shying away from taking the ball on as Scotland tried to make inroads.
Scrum success
Against a pack like England’s many might have expected Scotland to struggle, but for large parts of this game they more than held their own.
The starting front-row of Poppy Fletcher, Aicha Sutcliffe and Eilidh Fleming can certainly take positives from that going forward as can their front-row mates in the squad.
Have to play in the right areas
Scotland got some success when they got their big carriers like Charlotte Russell, her second-row partner Aisha Zameer and captain Merryn Gunderson into the game and that gave the team confidence.
At this level though you have to learn to play in the right areas and sometimes Scotland overplayed off the back of a good carry and knocked the ball on or lost it to put themselves under pressure.
Excellent finishes
Centre Holly McIntyre took her try well, sub Poppy Mellanby did the same and winger Emily Norval’s acrobatic finish in the corner was superb.
All rugby teams always want to be more clinical, but Scotland can take heart from the way they converted these chances that came their way.
Positive bench impact
We all know that rugby is a 23-player game now and you need your subs to bring energy and impact proceedings.
Scotland’s replacements can be pleased with how they did here, Holly Wilson, Rebekah Douglas and Poppy Mellanby in particular stepping up.
Scotland have Wales to play next on on July 11 (6pm) and then they will face Ireland on July 17 (1pm).
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.
Scotland under-20 squad that played in the England game
Nicole Flynn (V-C); Emily Norval, Holly McIntyre, Lucy MacRae, Lisa Brown; Ceitidh Ainsworth, Rianna Darroch; Poppy Fletcher, Aicha Sutcliffe, Eilidh Fleming, Charlotte Russell, Aisha Zameer, Lily Crisp, Isobel Twigger, Merryn Gunderson (C). Subs: Megan Hyland, Kaylee McHugh, Faye Sutherland, Holly Wilson, Gemma Thomson, Rebekah Douglas, Poppy Mellanby, Freya MacColl.
Scorers: Tries: Holly McIntyre, Emily Norval, Poppy Mellanby. Conversion: Lucy MacRae.
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.
Charlotte Russell is pictured taking a lineout versus England
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