Bryan Easson believes maintaining consistency and discipline are the two critical components that will make or break Scotland’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations opener against England.
Scotland are significant underdogs for Saturday’s match at the DAM Health Stadium in Edinburgh against a team that top the world rankings.
But after an impressive 59-3 win against Colombia in February sealed their place at October’s World Cup, Easson wants his squad to continue that level of performance.
He said: “I think we’ve been very clear from the get go that we want consistency from the performance, to make sure that we have consistency from there.
“Where we’re at, we’ve had some good 20 minutes, we’ve had some good 40 minutes. What we’d like to see is a concerted effort of consistency.
“I think the performance we put in against Colombia was probably more professional than we’ve put in before, sticking to our systems, having the discipline to stick to our systems as well.
“We know what to expect from England so it’s having the discipline around our defence and attack and our game management.
“We’ve not really talked about outcome, we’ve talked about processes and hopefully the outcome takes care of itself.”
Easson’s squad has been boosted by the return of Hannah Smith, while Jade Konkel, who was born in Inverness and grew up on the Black Isle, wins her 50th international cap this weekend.
With a tough task on Scotland’s hands at the start of their TikTok Six Nations campaign, Easson believes their experience is crucial.
He said: “Hannah’s an experienced player in that channel and I think it’s important we have as much experience when you’re playing the best team in the world.
“I thought the way England played through the Autumn series was exceptional. Some of the systems they are using now, they’re obviously looking at different permutations of players and it was interesting to see that.
“When you go into a game against teams like that, the more experience you have the better. To have Hannah back allows us to do little different things.
“Jade always puts in a performance, she’s always got her hand up to carry ball. She’s well known, I’m sure the England girls will know her very well and will be keeping an eye on her.
“She’s certainly a good team player, she understands what her role is around that, but I think it gives us a real dynamic ball carrier. She gives us momentum, she brings that into the game. She’s also a very good defender.
“It’s a huge achievement, not only to get 50 caps but to do it the way she’s done it as well.”
- The TikTok Women’s Six Nations is more accessible than ever before. To find out how you can watch the Women’s Championship visit: womens.sixnationsrugby.com/tv/
