Head coach Sione Fukofuka has praised the resilience Evie Wills has shown after he named her in the Scotland starting XV to play England on Saturday (1.30pm, live on BBC).
The 25-year-old has been in and around the national team set up since 2021 when she made her debut, but has not always been a first pick, has had some injuries to deal with including a serious knee one and has not been contracted by Scottish Rugby this season. She also spent time training to be a nurse which made her commitment to rugby even more impressive.
And the Stirling County product – who has also played for Hillhead Jordanhill and Leicester Tigers and played sevens for her country – has been great form in the English PWR with Sale Sharks in recent months.
As a result, the head coach has no qualms over her stepping into the 13 shirt vacated by the injured Emma Orr and Wills will win cap number 10 – and make just her second start – in the big game. She came off the bench last time out.
“Evie has 100 percent worked hard,” he said.
“To be fair to Evie, she committed to improving her rugby, went to Sale at the start of the season, has performed for them and we’re really excited to have her in the starting team and to reward that form.”
Meanwhile, Fukofuka wants his players to “embrace” the occasion when they take on world champions England in front of a record crowd at Murrayfield.
Around 30,000 spectators are set to descend on the national stadium for the Women’s Six Nations round two clash and it is only the ninth time the women’s team will have played there in their history.
The eight games at Murrayfield previously began with Sweden in 2002, two games in 2004, two in 2005, two in 2006 and one in 2020.
The first seven of those were played as double headers alongside men’s games whilst the most recent occasion six years ago was on a snowy Monday afternoon in front of a handful of people behind closed doors when Scotland played England after Scotstoun in Glasgow had been deemed unplayable thanks to Storm Ciara the day before.
Now captain Rachel Malcolm and her charges have the iconic Edinburgh ground all to themselves with thousands watching and while defending champions England will start as massive favourites – Scotland haven’t beaten them since 1999 – Fukofuka wants the squad to be confident.
“What we’ve spoken about is just embracing the occasion,” he said.
“We understand that it is a big occasion and that we’re very lucky to have the opportunity to have so many people supporting us while we play at Murrayfield.
“We use that to uplift the performance, there’s no weight on our shoulders.
“Probably the key area for us in terms of performance is that we stay in the moment, stay connected and present.
And if we can do that, we’re pretty confident that the performance will be where it needs to be.
“England are a strong team, but, from our point of view, they’re coming to Murrayfield, they’re coming to Scotland and we’re just going to soak in the energy and the atmosphere and really pull from it.
“The pressure is on England in terms of there’s an expectation on them to win every game so, from our point of view, we want to express ourselves and really unlock some of our strengths that are sitting there waiting to be unleashed.”
After the 24-19 win in Cardiff in round on last week against Wales, there is just one change to the Scotland starting team.
Wills for Orr is the only change in the starting team while there is a double boost on the bench.
Back-row Rachel McLachlan and winger Francesca McGhie are among the subs having recovered from calf and shoulders injuries respectively. Rianna Darroch, an unused sub in Cardiff, is still among the replacements and could debut.
• The other round two games see Wales play France at Cardiff Arms Park (3.35pm, live on BBC) and Ireland are hosting Italy at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway (5.40pm, live on BBC).
- Over 25,000 tickets have been sold for Scotland-England, join in the fun by getting tickets here – before the senior game at 1.30pm at Murrayfield the under-21 sides from both countries are meeting at Hive Stadium at 11am.
Evie Wills is pictured – thanks to Scottish Rugby
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