Maxwell and Howat back in Scotland’s starting XV

Jenny Maxwell and Nicola Howat both return to Scotland’s starting line-up for the match against England tomorrow, the only two changes made by head coach Shade Munro from the 15 that began the narrow defeat by Wales.

Maxwell takes over from Mhairi Grieve at scrumhalf, while Howat is at lock as an indirect replacement for the injured blindside Rachel Malcolm, with Sarah Bonar moving from second row to back row. The place on the bench vacated by Howat goes to Watsonians forward Panashe Muzambe, who is uncapped but has been in the squad as 24th or 25th player on a couple of occasions this season.

“Jenny has done well when she’s come off the bench for us and she’s added real impetus to our attack,” Munro said of Maxwell, who has competed all season with Grieve and Sarah Law for the No 9 jersey. “She adds real pace to our game, and rather than wait until she comes off the bench to do that, we thought we would [play her] from the start. We have three nines, so it was a difficult decision to make, but she deserves this opportunity.

“Rachel has just not recovered in time from the concussion she got against Wales. The doctors took a look at her earlier in the week and there’s just no way she could be involved.”

Scotland’s 17-15 loss to Wales was their fourth defeat in four Six Nations outings, and it will take something very special to prevent it becoming five out of five against opponents who have averaged nearly 50 points per game and are going for the Grand Slam. “It’ll be a tough game – we’ll have to find another level against a team as good as England,” Munro accepted. “England put you under pressure in every facet of the game, so we have to be clear in what we want to do.”