Fukofuka on exciting bench, fan support & England pressure
- Published
Scotland head coach Sione Fukofuka has been speaking to the media after naming his team to face England in their Women's Six Nations clash at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Here are the main points from his press conference:
Fukofuka is full of praise for Evie Wills, who has replaced the injured Emma Orr - "she committed to improving her rugby, went down to [her club] Sale with not a lot, has performed for Sale, and we're really excited to have her in the starting team to reward that".
When asked if he was tempted to bring Francesca McGhie and Rachel McLachlan, both starting on the bench, straight back into the team the coach admits "we definitely had some pretty robust conversations around it." However, he pointed to the fact Alex Stewart and Shona Campbell both performed well against Wales.
The Scotland boss says "Fran was world class at the World Cup but she hasn't played now for about five and a bit months, so we really want to make sure we're looking after her" and says he's "pretty excited for that impact off the bench in the second half".
Fukofuka says that the mantra for Saturday is about performance, while stressing "there is no weight on Scotland shoulders" despite facing the world champions. "What we've spoken about is just embracing the occasion and that we're very lucky to have the opportunity to have [30,000] people supporting us."
Fukofuka says he loves the challenge of facing the world champions. "England bring out the best in other teams, from my experience, and regardless of the result, the opportunity to play the best in the world gives you real insight to where you are."
He also sees this as a free hit with the pressure all on England: "The players want to perform for the family, the friends that are coming, but you're right, the pressure's on England. There's an expectation on them to win every game. From our point of view, it's just the pressure we put on ourselves to perform. We really want to perform for Scotland and express ourselves, and really unlock some of those strengths that are sitting there waiting to be unleashed."