Scotland women and the 14 month journey – the WXV 2 Australia week: The squad will “embrace with open arms” this big game, says legend Heather Lockhart

Gary Heatly

During her international playing days Heather Lockhart won 89 caps for Scotland in the front-row and sits second in the all-time capped female players list for the country.

Heather, still playing now for Hillhead Jordanhill, will be watching and supporting the current Scotland team when they take on Australia on Saturday in Cape Town.

If they do, barring a massive South Africa win over Italy and a number of things going in the hosts’ favour, then Scotland would be lifting the WXV2 trophy for the second year in a row and would have posted a 13th win out of 16th Tests.

Whatever happens, it has been a remarkable turnaround from 12 straight losses to this run which has been going since last April and started with a Six Nations home win v Italy and a move up from 11 in the world.

Thanks to her excellent co-commentary and punditry work with BBC and others, Heather has been close to the action for a large part of the run and has enjoyed seeing the squad’s progress to a best of five in the world.

“I think the key to this run has been their growth and understanding of the tactical game to enable them to get on the right side of the scoreboard while the way they have played for each other has been so impressive to watch ,” Heather said.

“That tactical maturity has developed through tight matches not going their way and it is testament to the squad and management’s actions and character how they have used these experiences to go higher.

“That maturity has been shown a number of times during this run, even thinking back to the first game against Italy last year when they dealt well with an Italian comeback and earlier this year in Cardiff they had to dig deep to get past Wales 20-18.

“Winning in Italy this year 17-10 in the Six Nations was another example, backing up that away win in Wales. With the squad depth ever growing they have been able to deal with injuries and enforced changes from a different starting point and highlights the trust they have in one another which has been reflected in recent results.”

“With trust there is confidence and with the improvement tactically, there has also been an improvement in the accuracy of passing and kicking across the board which is down, in large part, to time, and the ability to train in a professional environment. This style of play has created some fantastic attacking opportunities with the back three in particular on fire.

“What perhaps is most pleasing is the variety of tries that have been scored from both set piece and open play. Scotland scored 15 tries in two matches in the Vodafone Series at The Hive last month against Wales and Fiji and scored the same number in WXV2 last year with six tries so far in this year’s competition. “

“Defensively, they are a much harder team to break down, with Italy unable to score against them last week. Their hard physical preparation is allowing them to be that way.”

When Scotland reached their first Rugby World Cup in over a decade by defeating Colombia in the final qualifier in Dubai in early 2022, it was the culmination of a protracted campaign which had been impacted by the pandemic.

Beating Ireland with the last kick of the game by Sarah Law in the European Qualifiers in September 2021, which allowed them to play Colombia, was a pivotal moment. ‘

“Thereafter it led into the winless run, but if you look at the tight scores against Wales [18-15] and Australia [14-12] in the World Cup for example the team would have known that although things were not quite going for them at that time that they were not a million miles away and that a few tweaks were needed and they just had to keep trusting the process,” Heather continued.

“I think the energy required to qualify for the World Cup definitely meant there was slightly less available for the actual competition, but it will be a different story at next year’s World Cup with the knowledge that they are already qualified secure over a year in advance.

“What they have managed to do is turn those small margin into small wins and sometimes bigger wins and I think we have seen that they are not afraid to express themselves and really take games to opponents now.

“The WXV 2 title win last year was brilliant for the whole of Scottish rugby and the team sets such high standards. The close away loss to Ireland [15-12] in this year’s Six Nations has been the only recent diversion to things going in an upward trajectory but it’s never going to be a straight line.

“There is another big game this weekend with Scotland playing seventh ranked Australia for only the fourth ever time and the first time outside of a World Cup. Australia have had two good wins against Wales and South Africa so far showing their pace out wide.

“Opportunity awaits in Cape Town on Saturday for Scotland to retain the trophy and register their first win against Australia and it’s one I’m sure they will embrace with open arms and kick start their World Cup year.”

The Scotland-Australia game is at 4pm UK time on Saturday at the Athlone Sports Stadium and live on BBC iPlayer and RugbyPass TV

Scotland women’s squad at WXV 2 (uncapped in bold)

Forwards

Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers)

Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning)

Sarah Bonar (Harlequins)

Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears)

Lisa Cockburn (Gloucester Hartpury)

Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers)

Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears)

Jade Konkel (Harlequins)

Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning)

Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning)

Fiona McIntosh (Saracens)

Rachel McLachlan (Montpellier)

Louise McMillan (Saracens)

Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears)

Aila Ronald (University of Edinburgh)

Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars)

Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning)

Backs

Leia Brebner-Holden (Gloucester-Hartpury/Cheltenham Tigers)

Coreen Grant (Saracens)

Caity Mattinson (Ealing Trailfinders)

Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs)

Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers)

Rhona Lloyd (Stade Bordelais)

Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning)

Emma Orr (Bristol Bears)

Rachel Philipps (Sale Sharks)

Lisa Thomson (Ealing Trailfinders)

Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders)

Lucia Scott (Hartpury University/Gloucester-Hartpury)

Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears)

Scotland and Australia are pictured playing at Rugby World Cup 2021 versus Australia in 2022, thanks to World Rugby

GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk