SCOTLAND forward Emma Wassell believes the team can find inspiration from their 2017 victory over Italy when they take on the same opponents today in Legnano. The Scots have lost their last eight games in the Six Nations Championship, and have suffered three defeats at the hands of the Italians since that win at Broadwood, but the 25-year-old is sure that the same self-belief they had then could get them over the line this afternoon.
“I remember that game well and it was just fighting for it, because we really started to believe in ourselves, like ‘There’s no reason why we can’t do this’,” Wassell said of that hard-fought 14-12 win in 2017.
“I think a lot of it is to do with a little bit of belief sometimes. We’re probably our own worst enemy at getting in our heads and not just playing our game.
“So yeah, I think that’s a big aspect of it, but obviously Italy are a strong team, so we just want to play our game against them, and be able to start to attack against them, which I don’t think we’ve fully done yet.”
Wassell has had far more disappointments in her 43 caps to date than she has had causes for celebration, but her commitment to the cause has been second to none: since her debut in 2014, she has played in every one of Scotland’s Test matches. That includes the three games the team has won since Philip Doyle took over as head coach last summer - two against South Africa and one against Spain - and the Corstorphine lock is sure she has learned a lot from both Doyle and assistant coach Tyrone Holmes, the former Scotland cap who specialises in the breakdown.
“It’s bringing a fresh pair of eyes to some things,” she said. “Our scrum - over the past few years we’ve been building it a lot. That’s improved significantly. It’s exciting when Tyrone talks about breakdown and defence. It is just seeing it from a different pair of eyes, and it’s refreshed everyone in terms of what we need to be doing.”
The Scots will be underdogs today as they bid to win their first Championship fixture in two years. If they are to bring that losing run to an end, Wassell and every one of her team-mates will have to tap into the can-do spirit which took them to victory over Italy in that 2017 encounter.
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