by The profile and prominence of red roses mean that a large part of the opening weekend of the Women’s World Cup will fall on events in Sunderland, but it is in Salford that the match that will really launch the tournament. Women’s rugby can be short of authentic danger and rivalry, but each time Scotland and Wales meet, no quality seems to be lacking.
There are a lot of friendships in both camps with most of the players of the two squads traveling through their profession through the respective borders of the first female rugby (PWR), but there has always been a certain hostility to meetings between the pair. The two nations are at similar stages of their professional development and have similar goals during this tournament, a place in the quarter -final at hand for the winner in this opening match. Three Scottish victories in three meetings in the last 18 months have reduced the global record to 20-19 in favor of Wales, while there are many in the two teams who remember the dramatic of the 86th minute of Keira Bevan in New Zealand three years ago which sank the World Cup of Scotland even before it even really begins.
Keira Bevan’s late penalty won Wales against Scotland during the last World Cup (Getty Images)
“They are still competitive,” said Scottish wing Francesca McGhie this week. “Wales is a physical team, but we have played them enough to find out what we expect. They are under a new coach, but the six nations were also a good place for us and we are just going to go out and be really competitive. It’s going to be a great game.
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“It is probably our most competitive game. It is exciting for it to be against the Wales, it is always very close and a few points, so we will see that go out in mind.”
Wales and Scotland are fierce enemies on the ground (Getty Images)
Any feeling of kinship will be put aside once the white line is crossed, but once the game is over, a Scottish team that endured a turbulent accumulation of this World Cup can count on the support of a Welsh unit which has gone through its own difficult times before the tournament. Report of the Bbc Awarded the revelation of Wing Rhona Lloyd, up to half the team of 32 players appointed by Bryan Esson, is not certain of their contractual status after this tournament. The disagreements between Scottish rugby and the players played, in part, publicly before the tournament, and the clarity of the situation has not yet been entirely lost in the coming weeks.
The exclusion of popular members of the game group like Lock Louise McMillan and the Helic Christine Belisle earlier in the year were perhaps a first indication that everything was not so simple in the Scottish camp. To further complicate things, Easson is also going out with this World Cup his last Hourra. It looks at a relatively natural moment to go from a head coach who has considerably developed the team in his five-year term, but Easson is well appreciated by his players, and the moment of what he described as “sticky” negotiations on his future.
Scottish captain Rachel Malcolm worked hard to keep his team together (Getty Images)
“We pushed this to the side,” said Easson about all the noise surrounding its side. “We have firmly focused on this rugby world cup for eight weeks. We are not looking beyond this game; we are not looking at what comes before. If we turn this game, we could fail.”
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In a sign of a sport that always deals with the first problems of professionalism, it was only last year that Wales players were going through something similar to their Scottish counterparts. In November, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) apologized for its management of contractual negotiations which included the threat of withdrawing the team from the WXV competition and, thereafter, the World Cup if the discussions on transactions did not progress. The WRU denied allegations of sexism – of course, it was only a year before that the men of Wales threatened a strike in the midst of the six nations – but that Captain Hannah Dellavalle (née Jones) admitted that she considered her international career in the middle of the situation.
Two men did not survive the saga. Head coach Ioan Cunningham, now in charge of Fiji, resigned a week after the apologies; The executive director of Rugby Nigel Walker lasted a month more before resigning. During a year of the World Cup, such uncertainty was far from ideal.
Sean Lynn guided Gloucester-Hartpury with three consecutive PWR titles (Getty Images)
Wales will enter this tournament with real hope, despite the wooden spoons of the six consecutive female nations. Their main reason for optimism could be the new head coach Sean Lynn, who supervised a dynasty in Gloucester-Hartpury in PWR and resumed his native nation only two days after obtaining a third consecutive English interior. Lynn himself would probably admit that there was a steep learning curve and much to sort in the team. In public, Lynn challenged his players to become more fit, with an exhausting pre-season hoping to bring awards during this tournament.
The C-Capitaine du Pays de Wales, Alex Callender, was adopted in shape for the opening of the tournament (Getty Images)
Lynn also installed the lines of Kate Williams and Alex Callender as co-capital to give a new type of leadership to her team. It appeared that a visit to the world’s cup in Australia, organized before the appointment of Lynn, could have cost Wales Le Callender Combative, but the Harlequin overcome its ankle injury to make an opening match which is likely to determine which of these two favorites of the B Canada swimming pool in the last eight.
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“We are on the right track,” said Lynn. “I set targets after the six nations to the players. They left and returned in better shape.
“The emphasis is highlighted that we can play with the intensity I want.” We want to be a difficult team to beat, we want the opposition to think “we have Wales afterwards, it will be a massive test for us”.
“We also want to play with passion, play with heart and play with confidence.”
