| Women’s Six Nations Championship: Ireland v Scotland |
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| Venue: Energia Park, Dublin Date: Sunday, 2 February Time: 13:00 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC ALBA, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport’s digital platforms. Full coverage details. |
Scotland can improve on their dismal 2019 Women’s Six Nations this time around, says head coach Philip Doyle.
The Scots lost all five games last year and finished bottom of the table.
However, they head into Sunday’s opener in Ireland having won three of their five matches under Doyle, who is looking to build momentum for the World Cup qualifying campaign.
“I’ve got to close the gap. You’ve got to develop for the World Cup qualifiers,” he said.
“There’s no pressure – it’s all about performance. That’s why they’re very chilled going into this competition – we couldn’t do any worse than we did last year. I’m very happy with where they are.
“The pressure will be on with the World Cup qualifiers, but for now, let’s go steady, get experience into the team and so forth. We are undoubtedly confident.”
Doyle has made three changes from the team that beat Spain in Almeria two weeks ago for the opener against his former side.
Captain Rachel Malcolm and Chloe Rollie return from injury, while Mairi McDonald wins her second cap at scrum-half.
Jenny Maxwell will miss the Championships after being ruled out for nine months with an ACL injury.
Scotland team: C Rollie; R Lloyd; H Smith, L Thomson; M Gaffney: H Nelson, M McDonald; L Bartlett, L Skeldon, M Forsyth; E Wassell, S Bonar; R Malcolm, R McLachlan, J Konkel.
Replacements: M Wright, P Muzambe, L Cockburn, S Cattigan, L McMillan, S Law, E Tonkin, A Wallace.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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