Scots pin their hopes on success away from home

Scotland have not won an away match in the Women’s Six Nations Championship since way back in 2006, when they beat both Ireland and Spain, who were then in the tournament instead of Italy. This year, however, head coach Shade Munro is confident not only that his squad can end that dismal run, but that they have the mental strength needed to win all three games on the road.

The fixture list makes away fixtures look more plausible than home wins for the Scots, who last season ended six years without any kind of victory in the tournament, beating both Wales and the Italians at Broadwood after a narrow defeat by Ireland at the same venue. England and France visit Scotland’s new home venue of Scotstoun this time round and remain some distance ahead of the rest in the championship.

But matches in Colwyn Bay, Dublin and Padua all look winnable for Munro’s team, who now have four professionals in their ranks and have grown steadily in confidence since the former Glasgow Warriors assistant coach took over in 2015.

“Yes, definitely,” the coach, pictured, said yesterday when asked if his players had the mental toughness required to break that away duck. “I think there’s a definite belief. We’ve not lost a game since the last Six Nations, which is good considering they went through years of not winning, or were used to losing. There’s now a belief: they feel as if they’re getting somewhere.

“Ireland, Italy, Wales – you would hope that we’d be able to compete in the areas where we might not be as strong. The difficulty will be when we play France and England, who are very strong, almost professional teams. It’s a physicality thing, it’s a size thing, it’s a professional thing.

“That’s not to say we’re not going to meet the challenge head on. We’ll see how we’ve progressed from last year, where we struggled against those two teams.”

The challenge in north Wales on Friday night, when the match is part of a double-header with the men’s under-20s fixture, will be to win enough ball up front to enable the backs to do their stuff. Scotland have the edge behind the scrum but Wales’ forte is in the set piece.

The Scotland team for will be announced today and Munro looks likely to name Jade Konkel at loosehead rather than in her usual back-row position.