Maxton selects mixture of youth and experience to face Ireland

Jan 28 • General News • 1916 Views • Comments Off on Maxton selects mixture of youth and experience to face Ireland

Scotland Women head coach, Jules Maxton, has named her team to take on current Grand Slam Champions Ireland, with a vision of building for the future. Maxton, in her first campaign as head coach, has named four uncapped players to head to Dublin for the opening match of the 2014 Six Nations Championship.

Following an intense training camp last weekend (25 – 26 January), Deborah McCormack, Lisa Robertson, Emma Wassel and Anna Stodter have all been given the chance to gain their first cap with their inclusion in the squad.

The youthful squad will still have an essence of experience, with old heads Lindsay Wheeler, Heather Lockhart and Louise Dalgliesh – all whom have broke the 60 cap mark – named in the travelling 23.

Maxton, said: “The uncapped players named are those we see as having great potential for the future, with one of the aims for this season being to provide opportunities for new players moving forward over the next few seasons.”

“For us it’s about the balance of having experience, and developing and rebuilding our team.”

“We’ve got the return of Ruth Slaven, Lisa Martin and Gillian Inglis, all whom have a great deal of experience and are very important for our team.”

“This is a new team and this weekend we want to set the standard for ourselves. We can’t just say we want to win, we have to look at how we achieve that. We’re working really hard on what our performance outcomes are for the game and if we can improve on them on a week to week basis, the wins will come.”

Scotland will face Ireland, at Ashbourne RFC, near Dublin on Friday 31 January in a 7.30pm kick-off.

15 Stephanie Johnston – 22 caps, Worcester
14 Katy Green – 21 caps, Darlington Mowden Park
13 Annabel Sergeant – 12 caps, Richmond
12 Gillian Inglis – 3 caps, Melrose
11 Megan Gaffney – 9 caps, Hillhead-Jordanhill
10 Lisa Martin – 14 caps, Murrayfield Wanderers
9 Sarah Law – 8 caps, Murrayfield Wanderers

1Tracy Balmer – 20 caps, Worcester (captain)
2 Sarah Quick – 19 caps, Murrayfield Wanderers
3 Lindsay Smith – 15 caps, Hillhead-Jordanhill
4 Jade Konkel – 7 caps, Hillhead-Jordanhill
5 Deborah McCormack – Uncapped, Richmond
6 Tess Forsberg – 18 caps, Richmond
7 Ruth Slaven – 31 caps, Murrayfield Wanderers
8 Lindsay Wheeler – 61 caps, Saracens

Replacements:

16 Nikki McLeod – 9 caps, Stirling County
17 Lisa Robertson – Uncapped, Murrayfield Wanderers
18 Heather Lockhart – 66 caps, Hillhead-Jordanhill
19 Emma Wassel – Uncapped, Murrayfield Wanderers
20 Anna Stodter – Uncapped, Loughborough University
21 Louise Dalgliesh – 62 caps, RHC Cougars
22 Tanya Griffiths – 44 caps, RHC Cougars
23. Laura Steven – 31 caps, Murrayfield Wanderers