Scotland take on Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in Round 1 and following the Thistles’ success in claiming the WXV2 title in South Africa at the end of 2023, Malcolm is viewing the squad meet-up as akin to a family reunion.
The Scots are on a run of six victories. They started with wins over Italy and Ireland in the 2023 Six Nations, then beat Spain 36-5 in a WXV2 warm-up test, before victories over South Africa, USA and Japan secured the WXV2 title. A points difference of +55 to Italy’s +53 was all that separated first from second.
It is Scotland’s best run since 2001, which was also the last year they won a trophy.
“It's easily the best month in my life, just in terms of the culture that we've got within the group at the minute is such a fun place to be,” Malcolm said about WXV2 at the tournament launch in central London.
“That also breeds performances on the pitch. We've come back in and it's like we've never been away. We've obviously all been apart for quite a long time but it's literally just like a family getting back together. We just need to make sure that we get what we have off the pitch to transfer onto the pitch as well.
“We know what the ingredients are now and we kind of know how to put them together. I'm not saying there won’t be hurdles along the way that we have to face, but I think having come up against them and jumped over them now and proved to ourselves we can do it. I think that's going to be massive for us moving forward.
“WXV was massive and like Bryan [Easson, Scotland coach] says it's pretty cool for us as a group who've been together for such a long time to be making marks in terms that for the first time, we've won that many games in a row for 21 years. The first time we've won a trophy in 21 years. Those are things which build that confidence and belief, and it definitely feels like it's there.”
WINNING MENTALITY
In 2023 Wales enjoyed wins over Scotland, Ireland, and Italy to finish third behind England and France to qualify for WXV1.
They warmed up for the tournament with a 38-18 victory over the USA, but in New Zealand they suffered three defeats – against Canada, New Zealand, and Australia – to finish bottom of the table.
The tournament did help build on the squad’s experience, with captain Hannah Jones winning her 50th cap. She was also part of the Gloucester-Hartpury team that won the 2023 Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) and is joined in Ioan Cunningham’s squad by a significant number of clubmates: Lleucu George; Kerin Lake; Nel Metcalfe; Cath Richard; Gwennan Hopkins; Abbey Constable; Kelsey Jones; Sisilia Tuipulotu; Gwen Crabb; Kate Williams; and Bethan Lewis.
“As players, if you want to be the best you've got to play against the best,” Jones said. “WXV was a tough tournament and was a steep learning curve, but we've learned a lot from that. We've gone back to our clubs and we've been able to play rugby and get some minutes in and that's definitely going to give us confidence going into the Six Nations.
“We've had a few tough, close games in the Prem like Exeter Chiefs two weeks ago. We've learned how to deal with momentum [swings]. It's just keeping calm in those moments and thinking ‘right, next job’, not going ahead of ourselves.
“It's about not getting ahead of yourself; keeping calm and making the right decisions at the right time.”
RAISING THE BAR
A year ago, much of the focus among Scotland’s women was on the fact that the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) had decided to award professional women’s contracts for the first time.
The SRU announced that 28 players would receive professional contracts just before the 2022 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, a major step for the sport in Scotland.
It has meant that players aren’t missing from training due to work commitments, and that they can live their lives with rugby as their first priority.
That in turn means they have been able to regularly run 15-on-15 training matches in the built-up to tournaments, whereas in the past the training staff would often have to step in to make up the numbers.
“It's been massive,” Malcolm said. “If I look at it on a personal level, my body's now able to withstand a training session at match intensity. That has probably been the biggest change for me.
“The ability to recover and have the time and finances to eat right, and having the availability of facilities to recover properly, has probably made a difference.
“We've always been a group of players, regardless of our circumstances, who will train as hard as they possibly can and put in the preparation, but we were doing that off the back of a full week of work and not much sleep and probably not eating exactly how you would want to.
“When we come together as Scotland, we can focus on how we want to play as Scotland. We don't need to focus on getting ourselves up to speed physically, which is a massive turning point from a professionalisation point of view.
“When we're in camp, we are focused on what we want to do as Scotland rather than having to get ourselves up to the speed of international rugby.”
