Over the last couple of weeks we have heard a lot about four year journeys to get to Olympic Games, but with Paris now over and the attention shifting back to rugby it is all about a 14 month journey for Scotland’s women.
That journey began on July 29 when the 35-strong wider squad met up for day one of a four-week training block with a batch of day trainers also joining.
We are now in week three of that block and there is so much to focus on and look forward to for this ever-improving group of players.
On September 6 Bryan Easson’s charges will host Wales at Hive Stadium in a September Test.
They will then play Fiji on September 14 in a second September Test at the same venue before heading to South Africa to defend their WXV 2 title later that month and into October.
Then, in March and April, will be the Women’s Six Nations.
All of that, after some warm-up games more than likely over the summer, will then lead into the showpiece Rugby World Cup 2025 held in England between August 22 and September 27.
Scotland’s place there still needs to be rubberstamped, but will be after WXV 2.
So, lots to look forward to and skipper Rachel Malcolm said: “We have to look at this programme as a 14 month journey.
“That can sometimes be hard as a player because you want to just focus on that next game and that next win or whatever it might be.
“But we’ve talked to the group around what is our ultimate goal and it is in 14 months’ time [at the World Cup], so we need to do everything we can to get the processes right leading into that.
“We’ve stripped back a lot of our set piece, for example, to get back to basics, but then be able to take them further when it comes to the World Cup.
“In terms of what we want to achieve there are shorter-term and longer-term goals: we want to get more players coming through, more depth across positions and hopefully as much exposure to Test rugby as we can.
“Wales and Fiji coming up is a brilliant example of that, then there’s WXV 2 and that’s five games [two September Tests and three in South Africa] within a very short period of time which we never used to have.
“So we want to make sure we are making the most of those opportunities and making sure players get opportunities within that and then just keep building.
“We’ve got a lot of areas we can still improve on, and I think that’s a really exciting place to be in as a team.”
As well as some new faces in the wider playing squad and batch of day trainers, there is also a new face in the coaching team.
Last month it was announced that, following Martin Haag’s departure, 35-year-old Fraser Brown would be joining head coach Bryan Easson’s coaching set up on a consultancy basis as the forwards coach up to and during the WXV 2 tournament.
Brown, the former hooker who made 141 appearances for Glasgow Warriors and earned 61 caps for Scotland before retiring at the end of 2023/24, is now in his third week of working with the players at Oriam.
Malcolm, the 33-year-old Loughborough back-rower, added: “Fraser is immensely experienced as a player and we’re super fortunate to have him at this point (of his transition from playing to coaching).
“He’s just off the back of playing at a very high level in the men’s game to then come into our programme to coach us. He is learning how to deal with very loud women so he is transitioning into that role but I think he’s done really well.
“One thing I always pick up on with new coaches coming in is whether they know everyone’s name, and from day one, he did. That is really important to show he respects us and he’s put the time in away from here and came in with a huge amount of knowledge about where we’re at.
“He’s definitely going to challenge us on things we need to improve on and it is exciting.”
Scotland women’s training squad (uncapped in bold)
Forwards
Leah Bartlett
Gemma Bell
Christine Belisle
Holland Bogan
Sarah Bonar
Elliann Clarke
Lisa Cockburn
Eva Donaldson
Evie Gallagher
Jade Konkel
Rachel Malcolm
Elis Martin
Fiona McIntosh
Rachel McLachlan
Louise McMillan
Lana Skeldon
Alex Stewart
Emma Wassell
Anne Young
Backs
Cieron Bell
Beth Blacklock
Leia Brebner-Holden
Coreen Grant
Caity Mattinson
Jenny Maxwell
Mairi McDonald
Francesca McGhie
Liz Musgrove
Rhona Lloyd
Helen Nelson
Emma Orr
Lisa Thomson
Chloe Rollie
Lucia Scott
Meryl Smith
Day trainers invited into camp to support their development
Merryn Gunderson
Natasha Logan
Hannah Walker
Hannah Ramsay
Aila Ronald
Rachel Philipps added on August 12
Rachel Malcolm is pictured in training, thanks to Scottish Rugby/SNS for the image
GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk