Women’s 6N: Welsh encounters set to bookend a brilliant 12 months for Emma Orr

Gary Heatly

Emma Orr has had an amazing 12 months that is set to be bookended by two big games against Wales.

On April 2 last year the then 18-year-old made her full Scotland debut at Cardiff Arms Park against the Welsh in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.

And, fast forward a year minus a day, and this coming Saturday she will play Wales again in the same competition at the DAM Health Stadium.

Going into that one the centre now has seven caps under her belt, played in the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand late last year and turned out for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games sevens event in Birmingham last summer.

She also won silverware with her local club Biggar last May at BT Murrayfield, so it has been a great time for the player who turns 20 next Thursday.

“I actually cannot believe it has been a year already,” the the SRUC second year agriculture student

“That Wales week was crazy, the week before I’d come in ahead of the England game and was 24th/25th player and I was fully just expecting to see what camp was like and didn’t expect to play at all in the campaign.

“So, to be starting that next week against Wales was a bit overwhelming.

“The group is so tight knit and the girls make everyone feel so welcome though, so you just slide in and everyone has your back on the pitch, I couldn’t have asked for a better game to start my Scotland carer with and better people to play alongside.

“The development and growth we have had since then has been great, so hopefully we can keep growing as a squad now that [28 Scottish Rugby professional] contacts are in place.”

Scotland head into this weekend’s round two Six Nations match off the back of a 58-7 loss to England in Newcastle in round one.

Early on in the game, Emma nearly scored a try after a good team move and, in general, the squad took positives from the outing.

“I think it was literally inches, if I had slightly longer arms it would have been a try, but no, not quite unfortunately,” Emma, is now listed as a Heriot’s Rugby/Biggar player, explained.

“I think the first 20 minutes and the last 20minutes were glimpses of what we can do in terms of playing on top of teams and keeping the ball alive, the stuff we have really been focusing on in attack.

“And in terms of defence, I think we had some really strong spells and had double hits and things like that and then we maybe got caught off guard at times and they worked around us.

“There were some real positives in there, we are just working to put together a whole 80 minute performance.

“It was good to get a baseline and now we can kick on from here.”

The Welsh edged out Scotland twice last year in close games while they began this event with a 31-5 bonus point victory over Ireland.

“We are all positive and it gives us confidence that so many of our last few games we have been within a couple of points of winning. We know we can do it, we are at the races, so hopefully we can get a full 80 minute performance this weekend and start getting the results we deserve,” Emma continued.

“The feeling in camp is really positive. I think everyone is raring to go. We are eager to show what we can do at home as it should be a great atmosphere and we want to put out the performance we know we are capable of.

“We are excited for it.”

This Saturday’s match is at the DAM Health Stadium in Edinburgh at 5.30pm – click here for tickets.

Keep an eye out on GH Media’s channels for comprehensive coverage of all things Scotland throughout the TikTok Women’s Six Nations…

Emma is pictured taking on Wales 12 months ago