With Scotland heading back to Dublin this coming weekend to kick off their Women’s Six Nations campaign memories have come flooding back about Chloe Rollie’s wonder try against Ireland two years ago.
Rightly so as it was a cracker in the 15-12 win for the visitors to Energia Park, but fast forward to the present day and this Scotland squad are only looking to the future.
Last year’s campaign in the showpiece event was disappointing, but there has been a lot of change since then and head coach Philip Doyle, who led Ireland to the Grand Slam seven years ago, is now at the helm.
The team has won three Tests out of five on his watch since last summer and, with World Cup qualifiers later in the year the big target, they are looking to hit the ground running in the Six Nations.
It starts on Sunday in Dublin and full-back Chloe, now 24 and recently returned from an ankle ligament injury, said: “Things have been building up nicely [since Doyle took up post].
“I feel every camp we come into we gather a bit more information about how we want to play and, in terms of the culture, we are getting to know each other better.
“The change is there, it’s happening every camp and hopefully we can show that on the pitch on Sunday and later in the Six Nations.
“Philip has come in with a new view and a new game plan for us which is helping us, he has freshened things up a bit, he has taught us new things and helped us brush up on things we weren’t very sure on and we all know our roles.
“We have gelled together as a squad [under his leadership] and it has opened our eyes a bit, we now know if we stick to our plans we will get the results.
He keeps us focused, the overall confidence levels and belief have gone up.”
“Run and don’t look back!”
So what does Chloe, who is originally from Jedburgh and currently plays for Harlequins down south, remember of her 62nd minute ‘wonder try’ against the Irish in March 2018?
Chloe Rollie scores a try that Jacob Stockdale would be proud of to extend @Scotlandteam's lead over @Irishrugby #rterugby pic.twitter.com/a8bK5XWe7G
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) March 11, 2018
“I remember catching the ball and just running,” the 34-cap attacking threat who is enterig her sixth Six Nations recounts.
“Play was on our try line and we were just thinking ‘right we need to get into their faces’ and we put them under that pressure to make a mistake and throw a loose pass – when I caught it it was just a case of ‘run and don’t look back!’.
“I just kept going and it was amazing.
“That game was really good to be part of, it showed how much progress we had made by that time and on the day we played really well as a team.
“Now into 2020 and although I wasn’t in Spain [for the recent friendly win due to injury] watching it on TV you could see the differences from before and even the changes that had been made since the Autumn Tests.
“We didn’t turn up versus Wales while Japan beat us on the last play [in the Autumn] and that was hard to take, but the way the team regathered in Spain was brilliant.
“They did so well, they were so confident and we will definitely be taking that into Ireland and the rest of the Six Nations.”
The Scotland squad for the Six Nations opener is set to be named on Friday. The squad is captained by Rachel Malcolm.
Thanks to Rugby People for the main photo of Chloe Rollie