Tigers pair Martin and Jones start in Six Nations clashes
LEICESTER Tigers hooker Elis Martin makes her first Scotland start when France visit Edinburgh tomorrow (2.15pm) in the second round of the Women’s Six Nations.
Martin came on for the final 20 minutes of Scotland’s opening 20-18 victory against Wales in Cardiff.
Having made six appearances as a substitute, Martin takes over from Lana Skeldon, who was injured in Cardiff along with Sarah Bonar.
Now she will line up next to Tigers team-mate Leah Bartlett in the front row.
Leicester lock Eva Donaldson is named among the replacements along with her team-mate Lisa Cockburn, who is set to feature for the first time in the 2024 tournament.
Louise McMillan earns her 50th Scottish cap as she returns to the starting line-up in the only other change.
The experienced Saracens second row replaced Bonar during last weekend’s opening win in Wales.
Among the replacements, centre Nicole Flynn and lock Fiona McIntosh are in contention to make their debuts.
Beth Blacklock, Francesca McGhie, Rachel McLachlan and Jade Konkel remain absent.
France scored five tries in their 38-17 win over Ireland on the same day Scotland earned their narrow win in Wales.
France scored five tries in their 38-17 win over Ireland on the same day Scotland earned a 20-18 success in Wales.
“They are top three in the world for a reason,” said
Scotland head coach Bryan Easson of the French.
“They’ve been consistent with their performances. They are really physical, but they’re also chaotic. “We’ve trained quite a bit of chaotic stuff this week, so that we know how to expect that.
“But we’ve also got to make sure that we don’t get thrown into that as well.
“We want to stick to our processes, stick to our systems, trust the system.” Meanwhile, Leicester Tigers star Megan Jones, below, is included in the England starting line-up against her home country of Wales. Jones forms a new centre partnershp with Tatyana Heard as England head coach John Mitchell makes seven changes from the opening round win against Italy. Playmaker Jones has begun all 12 of Tigers’ fixtures in Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby, scoring 59 so far, including five tries. But there is no place in the squad for Leicester-born Emily Scarratt following her international comeback last weekend. Scarratt’s Loughborough Lightning team-mate Sadia Kabeya starts, with Zoe Aldcroft earning her 50th cap when the Red Roses host Wales at Bristol City’s Ashton Gate tomorrow (4.45pm).
England will break another attendance record when they take to the field in front of their largest ever home crowd in a fixture outside Twickenham Stadium. “To have sold 18,000 tickets with two days to go until matchday shows the appetite for Red Roses rugby in this country,” said Mitchell.