Gary Heatly in Bristol
Scotland head coach Bryan Easson has explained the changes he has made for the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final with England on Sunday.
For the match at Bristol’s Ashton Gate ground (4pm, live on BBC One), Christine Belisle, who was just called into the wider squad this week due to other injuries, comes in to start at tighthead prop.
Jade Konkel comes in at No.8 with Evie Gallagher shifting to number seven and Rachel McLachlan moving to the bench.
“Experience in a game like this is key,” Easson said on Friday as he named his matchday 23.
The tightheads we’ve had have done particularly well – I think Elliann Clarke has been outstanding and Lisa Cockburn has done very well, but they are out with a knee injury and a head injury respectively now.
“When you have the opportunity to have another tighthead of Christine’s experience starting it was quite an easy one for us while we know that Molly Poolman can do a job off the bench.
Belisle, the 31-year-old from Loughborough Lightning who has 41 caps, was not selected in the extended training squad at the start of the summer. That came after she left the squad after the Wales game in the Six Nations and seemed to be ended her Scotland career in May when, within a social media statement, she said “my heart is heavy that it’s over”.
But now gets her chance to make appearance number 42 in a massive game for her country.
“It was fairly straightforward, to be honest,” Easson said about recalling Belisle.
“Selections are always difficult for everybody. It’s hard, because you’re looking at the squad in terms of balance and the future. But as soon as we had the injury we spoke as a management team, and it [the selection of Christine] was quite an easy one for us.”
In terms of picking Konkel, who announced her retirement from international rugby post-tournament on Friday evening, Easson added: “That was a tough call for us because I think Rachel McLachlan has been outstanding, but when you’re playing against a team of England’s physicality and you’ve got a ball carrier and quite a destructive defender like Jade it obviously came into our decision-making process to look at how that balance would work against a team like them.
“It was a tactical change. It was nothing other than a tactical change – it certainly wasn’t performance based.”
Finally, Wright has got the nod over Anne Young to back up Leah Bartlett at loosehead prop and Easson explained: “Molly is a good scrummager in that position and quite destructive in attack and defence. Again, it was tactical rather than performance. Anne was great coming on last week, but Molly just gives that little bit of an extra edge on both sides of the ball and around the pitch.”
The Scots are massive underdogs heading into the last eight clash against the world number one and tournament favourites, but will certainly not leave anything out there and will be giving it their all to cause an upset.
- The first two quarter-finals take place on Saturday.
- The Scotland match in Ireland during the 2026 Six Nations will be played at the Aviva Stadium.
Scotland squad to play England: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Leah Bartlett, Lana Skeldon, Christine Belisle, Emma Wassell, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Evie Gallagher, Jade Konkel. Subs: Elis Martin, Molly Wright, Molly Poolman, Eva Donaldson, Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Caity Mattinson, Evie Wills.
The England matchday 23 is here.
Christine Belisle is pictured
From August 7 until September 30, GH Media will be following the Scotland World Cup journey all of the way. We will be at all of the Scotland matches down south and will be bringing you all of the interviews and news from camp as well as taking a wider look at the tournament as a whole and its impact on the women’s game. Thanks to Quirky Chocolate and other supporters for allowing this content to happen and to readers for engaging with it.