Chloe Rollie wants Scotland to show the ruthlessness that they did against Wales in last year’s Rugby World Cup when they play the same opponents in their Women’s Six Nations opener on Saturday.
Last August in the first pool game in Salford, the Scots were on fire to see off the Welsh 38-8 with a bonus point at the World Cup.
No one expects the winning margin to be quite as big this time around given that Scotland are heading to Cardiff and the Principality Stadium, but a similar showing of intent would be a great way to start off the reign of Sione Fukofuka as head coach.
Scotland are also trying to make it five wins on the spin against their great old rivals and 30-year-old full-back Rollie, who is set to earn her 82nd cap here, will be key to any attacking game plan the team has.
“I think it was the first couple of minutes when Fran [McGhie] got that try that set the tone for that World Cup win,” Rollie, who is from the Borders and now plays for Toulon Provence Méditerranée in France, said.
“It was a kind of a situation of ‘oh, this has not happened to us before, like what’s going on here?’
“And I think it was the ability for us to keep backing that up, kept scoring and putting Wales under pressure that was impressive on the day.
“It almost felt like they were rabbits in headlights and didn’t really know how to deal with it.
“And it just felt like we flipped the narrative in that game, we were usually that team that kind of gets a bit of a fright and doesn’t know how to deal with things, but it felt like we were the ones that were in control and we kept that control for 80 minutes.
“It gave us belief that we really have the ability to put teams away.
“We’ve learnt over all the years that we’ve been together as a squad about how we can control a game and control the tempo and almost play on our terms, but I think before that game we maybe didn’t have that nailed right down, but now we do.”
Away games over the years have been notoriously tricky for the Scots in the Six Nations, but they won in Cardiff at the Arms Park 20-18 two years ago.
“I think away games were always more difficult for us, but now that narrative is starting to change where we are winning away from home and, you know, we’ve beaten Italy away from home, we’ve beaten Wales and we’ve beaten Ireland,” Rollie continued.
“So it’s a case of we don’t see it that way anymore and away games are winnable now.
“We haven’t spoken this week about ‘oh we’re away from home, they’ll have the crowd or they’ll have this and that’.
“It’s just been a case of we’re playing Wales. It doesn’t matter where we’re playing and we’re looking to get a result no matter what.”
The Scotland matchday 23 will be named on Thursday lunchtime.
- It has been confirmed that, with the conclusion of the Arnold Clark Regional Play-Off Series, Garioch will retain their place in the Premiership for 2026/27.
Chloe Rollie is pictured and will hope to be smiling this weekend – thanks to Scottish Rugby
The Women’s Six Nations is here and the 2026 event runs from April 11 to May 17 and, between April 6 and May 20, GH Media will be covering Scotland’s campaign and the wider tournament – keep an eye out for content and thanks to everyone who supports GH Media’s work within women’s rugby