Skeldon looks at the positives after rout

SCOTLAND hooker Lana Skeldon was keen to take the positives out of Scotland’s performance in the 46- 0 defeat to England.

Skeldon has been on the receiving end of some huge defeats to the Red Roses, such as the 80- 0 annihilation at Twickenham five years ago, and while Scotland head coach Bryan Easson voiced his frustration, the Hawick- born hooker put a more positive spin on a 25th consecutive defeat to England.

“As a front three and a pack there were some bits we were happy with,” she said. “England is always going to be our biggest challenge, but the scrum went pretty well at times and we can build on that into the last two games. Second half the line- out seemed to get a bit better and functioned which was good.

“There were parts of that game that we are happy with, they are ultimately seven years ahead of us in terms of professionalism and they played very well, but for us we will take the bits that we are happy with from the first three games, hopefully put them together and go out to Italy and get the performance we are after.

“We will reflect on the bits we didn’t quite get right, reflect on what we did individually and as a team and take that forward to Italy.”

Easson said the performance was not good enough, and Skeldon and co must bounce back in Parma on Saturday if they are to keep their hopes alive of finishing third and securing Rugby World Cup qualification.

“Italy are a great side and playing them away from home brings its challenges, but we are a very closeknit group. It is all about bringing our own energy when we go on the road and we are very good at that as we showed when we went down to Wales.

“For us, it is about focusing on ourselves this week and really looking at how we can go out there and execute the performance that we are after.”

Skeldon conceded there were parts of the defeat the Scotland squad were not pleased, with but said staying positive was how she deals with setbacks.

“There were parts of the game we were frustrated with of course, but if we constantly focus on the negatives we are never going to get anywhere. I don’t want everyone to feel sorry for themselves, we have been through things like this before and you can’t dwell on them.

“It can be tough to be positive after a game like that, but it is my job, with the experience I have, to show everyone that there is good things to build on and we really do have two massive games to focus on now.”