Scots ready for England juggernaut & historic home crowd
These are seismic times for everybody, but for the seasoned campaigners in particular - Lana Skeldon, Emma Wassell, Rachel Malcolm, Helen Nelson, Chloe Rollie and Rhona Lloyd, all 60, 70 and 80-cappers who know what the dark side looks like. "It's a bit of a pinch me moment," says Malcolm, the captain. "We've come from having empty stands or not many fans to be in front of a historic crowd and it's something that we are just so proud of.
"The performances have improved over the last few years and that's the reason for it but also the work that the team behind the team have done to get our stories out there. " To put this into a greater context the biggest crowd the national women's football team has ever drawn is 18,555 for the visit of Jamaica in 2019. In comparison to the rugby players, the footballers get a ton of coverage and yet come Saturday night the rugby team will be well clear of the biggest ever crowd for a women's football game in this country.
There's no doubting that among the Murrayfield crowd there will be a very healthy English contingent. This is not 28,000, give or take, Scotland supporters, but it does represent a 'moment' in the women's game. They are in the main stadium for the first time, which is a big call, and a huge number of people are coming to watch this Test.
The big call was the right call. For the visitors, of course, this is nothing flash. England's last two home crowds have been 81,885 for the World Cup final and 77,120 for last weekend's Six Nations opener against Ireland.
Eye-popping numbers even for men's football not to mind women's rugby. England beat Scotland 40-8 in last year's World Cup England will win and, barring a sensation, they'll win extremely comfortably. Frankly, Scotland will do well to keep England to 40 points, as they did at the World Cup last autumn.