SCOTLAND full-back Chloe Rollie has promised that she and her team-mates are ready to come out fighting in their must-win World Cup qualifier clash against Spain in Parma tomorrow afternoon.
Having suffered a demoralising 38-13 deflosseat to hosts Italy in the opening match of this four-team repechage tournament, the Scots know that they must bounce back this weekend if they are to keep alive any hope of making it to New Zealand next October.
“I don’t think it’s ever easy just to get over a defeat like that one against Italy straight away, but we did our review, we looked at ourselves, we saw what didn’t go as well as we thought it would, and we’ll move on from there,” insisted Rollie.
“We’ve got a new focus now and we’re trying to leave that behind us – we can’t take it back.”
Scotland will draw confidence from having defeated Spain 36-12 the last time the two sides met in Almeria back in January 2018, but they will also be mindful of the fact that Sunday’s opponents have clearly moved forward since then having managed to secure a surprise 8-7 win over Ireland in their opening game of this campaign.
“It’s in the back of people’s minds that we beat them not so long ago, but at the same time we never know what a team’s going to bring,” Rollie reflected. “You can analyse them to death, but they could bring out something completely different, so we just need to be very alert and aware of everything that’s happening around us and not switch off for that second, because I think Spain will really sting us if we switch off.”
“They’ve got some really fast Sevens players in the back-line, who we have identified. We know we can’t give them too much space or they’ll take it.
“And their forwards are very physical as well, so I think we just need to front-up and match that – take it to them and really give them a game.”
Rollie added that the solitary try Ireland did manage to score early in the second half against Spain on Monday gives her faith that the Scottish wide players can have an impact this Sunday.
“It made us realise that sometimes they can be a bit tight in defence and there are times when we will be able to pull the trigger, release our backs and get it wide,” she explained.
“The way Ireland put their wide players under pressure there and got it into space was really good.”
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