Easson expects spicy between Scotland and Wales

Bryan Easson expects a spicy encounter when Scotland welcome Wales to the DAM Health Stadium in the 2023 TikTok Women's Six Nations, with the hosts eager to avenge two closely fought defeats in 2022.

Scotland's head coach watched on as his side let a 14-7 half-time lead slip in the 24-19 loss at this stage of the 2022 Championship, while Wales also grabbed a last-gasp 18-15 victory when the sides met at the World Cup.

That has been the story of the last 12 months for Easson's side, who are now without a win in their last ten games in all competitions.

Scotland took plenty of positives from Round 1's 58-7 defeat against defending champions England, but Ioan Cunningham's side will be flying high after their 31-5 triumph over Ireland last weekend.

"We know what to expect, it is always a bit of a spicy encounter, Scotland against Wales," said Easson.

"We have not really concentrated too much on Wales this week, we are looking at the here and now, and we are looking at ourselves.

"We have reviewed our game, it's been 80:20, 20% Wales and 80% ourselves.

"Against Ireland, there was such a strong wind that Wales had the ascendancy in the first half.

"Ireland really struggled to exit their own half, and Wales looked quite clinical every time they had the ball.

"It was a difficult game to gauge, I was disappointed with Ireland, but I also felt there were some real positives from Wales as well."

Last year's encounter between these two sides proved crucial in the context of the Championship.

Scotland went on to finish bottom without a win, while Wales ended the 2022 TikTok Women's Six Nations in third, their highest finish since 2009.

Easson has named an unchanged squad for Scotland's first home fixture of the Championship after being impressed with his team's heart against the Red Roses.

He added: "I genuinely felt that the young group that we had showed some green shoots of development.

"In the first 20 minutes and the last ten, I thought there were some real positives, even in that middle part of that game.

"We showed that we are making that progress, I thought keeping the same squad was quite an easy decision for us, to be honest.

"I think there were positives on both sides of the ball, as you know with England, once you give them momentum, they are a really difficult side to slow down.

"I have to say that they probably played a little bit better than I think we were expecting."

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