| Venue: Cardiff Arms Park Date: Saturday, 23 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two Wales, BBC iPlayer and online from 16:30 GMT; listen on BBC Radio Wales & Radio Cymru; text commentary, highlights and report on BBC Sport website and app. |
Wales host Scotland as they kick off their 2024 Women’s Six Nations campaign at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday.
Wales will be looking to cement another third place finish, with defending champions England and France clear favourites to finish in the top two.
Qualification for the 2025 Rugby World Cup is also at stake this year.
Whoever finishes highest out of Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy will secure their place at the showpiece event next summer.
Hosts England and France are already qualified.
Classification for the WXV tournaments that take place in autumn 2024 is also on the line during the championship, with the top three teams playing in WXV1.
Fourth and fifth-placed teams will enter WXV2, while the bottom team will enter a play-off system, the loser of which will end up in WXV3.
Team News
Wales:
Former England Under 20s captain Jenny Hesketh makes her Wales debut.
She qualifies for Wales through her Welsh mother and linked up with the squad in February after impressing at full-back for Bristol Bears this season.
Jasmine Joyce is released from GB sevens duty and is part of an exciting back three with Hesketh and 19-year-old Nel Metcalfe, who has been running in tries for fun at Gloucester-Hartpury.
Scrum-half Sian Jones is set for a first cap off the bench after catching the eye in the recent cross-border Celtic Challenge competition.
Wales’ pack remains the same as last year with Natalia John returning after missing WXV.
Scotland:
Scotland have named largely the same side that beat Japan last autumn to clinch the WXV2 title.
Flanker Alex Stewart is set to win her first cap after impressing for Edinburgh in the Celtic Challenge.
It is after head coach Bryan Easson said he expects Jade Konkel to miss all of the tournament through injury.
Stewart is joined in the back row by skipper Rachel Malcolm.
Scotland have three GB Sevens players in their match day squad.
Rhona Lloyd starts on the wing, Lisa Thomson at centre while Shona Campbell returns on the bench.
Commentator’s notes
Sara Orchard: Wales now have more than 30 players on full-time contracts. The investment by the Welsh Rugby Union into its women’s programme has been swift and is accelerating.
However, that investment needs to be repaid with performances. Anything less than another third-place finish and that precious World Cup qualification secured, will be disappointment for Wales.
Closing the gap to England and France would also be significant, not just for Wales. but the validity of the tournament and its structure going forward. In 2023, Wales lost by 56 points to England and by 25 points to France – if they can get that 81-point gap closer to 40 we will all be getting very excited.
Gloucester-Hartpury fly-half Lleucu George will be tasked with handling much of this pressure following the retirement of Elinor Snowsill. The 24-year-old has the opportunity to become a Wales great.
With Sioned Harries also hanging up her boots, this is a tournament where the likes of Sisilia Tuipulotu and Keira Bevan need to come of age and put on a show that will entice the Welsh public to go to the Principality Stadium for a showdown with Italy in round five.
On paper, Scotland’s women are flying. A fourth-place finish last year was their best in six years, a WXV2 title in the autumn followed and then Edinburgh produced a strong showing in the Celtic Challenge by finishing second. Results, momentum, depth – tick, tick, tick.
Here comes the ‘but’ – their fixture list is horrible. With home games against England and France, all the pressure is on them to pick up wins away from home. They have also lost their star player in Jade Konkel to injury.
The task is huge but the depth of the squad is where Scotland can finally hang their hat. Just looking at tight-head prop, where they have the likes of Elliann Clarke, Lisa Cockburn and Christine Belisle all putting in a shift for their Premiership sides, shows their potential.
Views from both camps
Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham said: “Scotland are on a winning streak at the moment and with confidence from winning WXV2.
“It’s all on Saturday. We are pleased that we are at home in front of our fans and we have got to try and start as well as we can.
“If we can start well it gives us a foothold in the table and then we can turn our eyes to England, but this first challenge of Scotland is the hardest one to begin with.
“We have to stick to the game plan that will hopefully get us across the line on Saturday.”
Scotland head coach Bryan Easson said: “It probably is the strongest squad I’ve been involved with.
“When you are looking at a bench that has got Shona Campbell and Chloe Rollie, you’ve got some players there that when you want to change the game, you’ve got potential to do that.
“It’s testament to the squad we’ve got.
“We’ve had some really good fixtures with Wales in the past, but we’ve concentrated really hard on ourselves.
“We were pretty happy with our performance [in WXV2], but the goals for us is to keep improving.”
Line-ups
Wales: Jenny Hesketh; Jasmine Joyce, Hannah Jones, Kerin Lake, Nel Metcalfe; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Natalia John, Abbie Fleming, Alisha Butchers, Alex Callender, Bethan Lewis.
Replacements: Carys Phillips, Abbey Constable, Donna Rose, Georgia Evans, Kate Williams, Sian Jones, Niamh Terry, Carys Cox.
Scotland: Meryl Smith; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Coreen Grant; Helen Nelson, Caity Mattinson; Leah Bartlett, Lana Skeldon, Christine Belisle, Emma Wassell, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm, Alex Stewart, Evie Gallagher.
Replacements: Elis Martin, Molly Wright, Elliann Clarke, Louise McMillan, Eva Donaldson, Mairi McDonald, Shona Campbell, Chloe Rollie.
Match facts
Head-to-head:
- Since Italy joined the Women’s Six Nations in 2007, Wales have won 14 of their 16 matches against Scotland in the Championship, including each of their seven meetings on Welsh soil during that period.
- Five of the last six Women’s Six Nations matches between Wales and Scotland have been decided by margins of seven points or fewer, the exception being Wales’ 34-22 win in Edinburgh last year.
- Scotland won more turnovers than any other team in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations (40) and were one of two teams to concede fewer than 70 turnovers (59), alongside Wales, who conceded the fewest of any side last year (55).
Wales:
- This will be the 11th consecutive Women’s Six Nations home game that Wales have played at Cardiff Arms Park, they’ve won three and lost seven of their 10 games in that run so far.
- Among the 101 players to feature for 160+ minutes in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, only Marlie Packer (1.6) won more jackal turnovers per 80 minutes than Wales’ Alex Callender (1.4), while teammates Bethan Lewis (1.1) and Gwenllian Pyrs (1.0) were two of just three others to win at least one jackal turnover per 80.
Scotland:
- Scotland have picked up just one away win in the Women’s Six Nations since Italy joined the Championship in 2007 (D1, L37), losing their last 10 games on the road by an average margin of 29 points.
- Scotland won their final two games of the 2023 Women’s Six Nation. However, they’ve not won three on the spin in the Championship since before Italy joined the Championship in 2007, last doing so in 2005.
Match officials
Referee: Clara Munarini (FIR)
Touch judges: Sara Cox (RFU), Holly Wood (RFU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)
