Scottish women are awesome

[Got some sleep]

Just watched Scotland v USA in WXV 2 and what a game. Those girls have increased their skills massively. Handling skills and game-awareness are light-years ahead of what they were just a year ago, and the defence in that game was just brilliant, really impressive.

Playing professionally (mainly in England) must have made a huge difference, also Easson and the coaching staff. The increase in skills at scrum-half have made a huge difference, and Lisa Thomson has added about 30 m to her kicks, and the scrum was excellent - a huge improvement there.

Really enjoyedl watching that: good skills with not a project-player in sight.

[Donny osmond]

Women's rugby is great to watch, it's what the men's game could be if you took out all the macho bullshit.

I'd say the women could live without your final comment, even it was meant as a compliment. Just not needed?

[Got some sleep]

[Jocky]

They also beat South Africa in the first game, so 2 from 2. They definitely have improved a great deal. Go ladies!

[septic 9]

They also beat South Africa in the first game, so 2 from 2. They definitely have improved a great deal. Go ladies!

and won their last 2 in the 6N I think

We play Japan next, ranked one below us. A very good start but need to remember these are not the top teams, its very much a second tier competition

[Donny osmond]

Its a great start.

And yes, we're in the 2nd tier competition, but the set up of womens rugby in Scotland is a country mile behind most of the teams in the top tier. I'd rather our team was winning Tier 2 than regularly getting thumped at the bottom of tier 1.

Is the WXV replacing the women's 6N or will that still run as before?

[BaldiePete]

The 6N hasn’t changed. It’s directly after the completion of the men’s 6N.

https://womens.sixnationsrugby.com/team ... _&_results

[septic 9]

good win good margin v Japan - 38-7. 6 in a row apparently. Need to sit fingers crossed now, winner depends on Italy beating USA by enough points, up now

[septic 9]

well maybe awesome is a teeny wee bit OTT, but they are due huge congrats. WXV2 champions

[Cameo]

That's great. Great to see some of the players still there who were there during the really dark times when they could scarcely score a point.

Yes, it is tier 2 but let's be realistic, we are not competing with the top 3 for a while and this is great progress from a few years ago.

[Got some sleep]

I stand by "awesome". This is a group of players who've gone from a twelve-match losing streak to a six-mattch winning streak, and it comes from coaching and hard work, not buying in South Africans.

Okay, we're not tier 1 any more than we are in the men's game, but that improvement has to be celebrated, and calling it anything less than awesome: what's wrong with you?

[Got some sleep]

BTW, I'm not offering any counselling on septicism

[Got some sleep]

BTW, I'm not offering any counselling on septicism

[switchskier]

Haven't been able to watch any of the games but the progress seems significant. Highlights look good, but quite one sided physically.

Don't understand the tournament format with no promotion until 2026. Also a bit of a shame that the team were not able to celebrate until the day after they won their final game.

[Got some sleep]

All matches can be seen from world rugby's site. Well worth looking at.
There were a lot of one-sided games: two professional nations and a mixture of in-betweens.
The tournament format was only slightly less weird than the URC: six teams in each division divided into two pools of three. Each team plays all three teams in the other pool.

[septic 9]

I stand by "awesome". This is a group of players who've gone from a twelve-match losing streak to a six-mattch winning streak, and it comes from coaching and hard work, not buying in South Africans.

Okay, we're not tier 1 any more than we are in the men's game, but that improvement has to be celebrated, and calling it anything less than awesome: what's wrong with you?

look, you are entitled to stand by awesome. Everyone has an opinion. But while I think they have done remarkably well (and certainly look to be vastly improved), and am fulsome in my praise, I think awesome is a bit OTT
We will see come the 6N how far they have come. I won't even judge them just on wins when we get there. I can take defeats if we perform much better than previous seasons, if look competitive.

They looked so much better but reality is we were playing an inferior opposition to 6N so its really hard to tell how much better they are now. Despite my login I am actually cautiously optimistic.
If you think that means there is something wrong with me I suggest you seek counselling for yourself

[Donny osmond]

Whether or not it's awesome, a 6 match winning streak is a huge positive, even if some of the oppo were not quite in the same bracket.

I feel like womens rugby has only just gone professional in Scotland? ( I'm also aware that I'm pushing 50 now and the years are just morphing into one huge 'past' rather than me being able to accurately remember how many years ago something actually happened).

A run of results like that, regardless of the opposition, could be the catalyst for real change in the women's game in Scotland. Fingers crossed.