Key forward Anne Young is on the road back from injury and hopes to be able to play some part in Scotland women’s WXV Global Series home matches this month.
The Scots will be taking on Canada on September 12, New Zealand on September 19 and Australia on September 26 at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh before two matches down under in October.
The home matches are the focus just now for interim head coach Dave Butcher and co and he would like to have 26-year-old loosehead prop Young available for some of the month at least given that she has been out since late March.
“In the last game down south for Loughborough before the Women’s Six Nations came around I got a spiral fracture in my ankle and did my syndesmosis which was really disappointing,” 22-capper Young, who started her rugby life at Helensburgh and will be playing for Glasgow Warriors this term, explained during trips to Balfron High School and Lenzie rugby club recently.
“It was obviously the last game before I was coming up to Edinburgh for the Six Nations and that was annoying.
“It’s my first major long-term injury so trying to navigate that has been quite tough. Obviously missing out on the Six Nations and not being with the girls was really tough.
“But all the girls have been really great and I managed to get myself to quite a lot of the Six Nations games and still tried to feel as involved as I could.
“But, yeah, I was pretty gutted to miss out on the tournament I can’t lie and I want to try and get back soon with big games coming up.
“I have integrating back into Scotland training camp now which is really exciting and I am pretty much just doing the last final finishing touches to try and get back fully fit.
“In terms of when exactly I’ll be ready, I think we’re still in the hands of the physios. I’m very much going week by week, but I think it is looking promising, hopefully, to be involved in WXV in some capacity.”
Over the summer Scotland head coach Sione Fukofuka left his post to be replaced by his assistant Butcher after a tricky Six Nations.
“I think as a group we’re pretty good at dealing with any sort of adversity or change,” Young said.
“We’ve been very adaptable over the years and we’ve been through a lot.
“And Dave is great. I’ve had limited interaction with him, just because of missing the Six Nations and then being integrated back in recently, but every interaction I’ve had with him has been really great.
“He’s such a positive force around the group. He knows when to be serious and he knows when to have a laugh with us. I think he’s just got the vibe of our group really well and I think he just fits in with us really well.
“We are excited to have him as the head coach going into this WXV tournament and we want to see what we can do under his leadership.”
The upcoming home Vodafone Scotland WXV Series campaign is part of the wider WXV Global Series presented by Mitsubishi Electric featuring the top sides in the world.
- Scotland women A lost 33-0 to the Netherlands full Test team in Amsterdam on Saturday.
Anne Young, centre, is pictured on a recent road trip inspiring the next generation – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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