Easson wants winning finale to World Cup warm-up

BBC News

3 days ago

Scotland head coach Bryan Easson is looking for "a big" result against Ireland on Saturday to send his side to the Women's Rugby Cup on a high as he prepares to complete his squad selection next week.Easson will reduce his squad from its current 37 to 32 following the match in Cork and says "there are opportunities" for players to still stake a claim.Asked about the changes made following last week's 34-29 defeat away to Italy, he said: "The selection this weekend is based on, yes, performance from last week but also looking ahead to Wales as well."Last week was all about performance. We wanted to see where we had come during pre-season. We had a lot of conditioning work, a lot of rugby work and a few system changes with a new attack coach coming in late, a new forward coach as well."This week it is around what we do in the game. This one is purely Test match."Scotland fell just short after a stirring comeback in Viadana."There were a lot of good performances last week against Italy," Easson said. "The first 20-25 minutes was rusty. It was probably akin to some pre-season games, where it takes a while to get in."Post that 20 minutes, I thought we performed really well and, second half in particular, I thought the bench really stepped up. I thought they brought a real intensity."Scotland will spend next week at their St Andrews training camp before heading to Manchester for their 23 August opener against the Welsh."The preparation is very much done," Easson added. "It is a big performance now. Players are in a good place."