THE prize of playing in a major championship, which threatened to elude her when she was injured in the build-up to Euro 2017, became reality for Jen Beattie when she and her team-mates touched down in Nice yesterday to get their World Cup adventure underway.

The women's squad are now walking in the footsteps of Craig Brown's 1998 men's side, the last from this country to play in the planet's greatest tournament. Group D games against England on Sunday, Japan in Rennes on June 14 and Argentina in Paris on June 19 are the very least which await Beattie and her team-mates.

By a huge sporting coincidence, Beattie's father, John, scored his first Scotland try – against France in 1987 – at the same Parc des Princes venue where his daughter and his team-mates will hope to qualify for the last 16 by beating Argentina. The following month he injured his knee playing against England, and that ruled him out of the inaugural World Cup later that year.

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Older brother Johnnie was also a distinguished Scotland rugby forward but wasn't selected for the 2011 tournament. That represented his best chance of playing as he had been a standout in the previous year's Six Nations Championship.

“I didn't realise neither of them had been to a World Cup,” Beattie admitted, “but it's a good feeling to be the first in the family to get there.

“My dad was brilliant when I ruptured ligaments before the Euros two years ago. He'd gone through exactly the same before the very first Rugby World Cup and he guided me through a really tough time.

“He told me that much as being a pro athlete it feels at the time like the world is against you, you can't afford to dwell on what you're missing out on. You have to look forward.”

For all she appreciated the advice of her broadcaster father, Beattie says even that couldn't mask the crushing disappointment. She was one of a number of key players who missed the Netherlands tournament, while another, striker Jane Ross, was ruled out after being injured in the opening 6-0 thrashing by England.

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“I couldn’t bring myself to go to Holland, it was too tough,” she grimaced. “I went through every emotion under the sun. My family, extended family, friends from school, they'd all booked to go and they still went and had a great time, but I couldn't.

“I didn’t even watch the games. I kept in touch with the results and with the girls, spoke to them all the time, but I won't be the first person who has ever got injured and hasn't been able to watch the games they're missing.

“I stayed in Manchester and did my rehab, focussed on getting back fit for pre-season with my club. It was without doubt one of the toughest times of my career, but that’s pro sport; it has its ups and downs, and that was a major down.

“That’s another thing my dad tried to drum into me. I think I’m better for it. You have to be, you have to take the positives.

“You change your mindset and you become stronger. You have to find a positive out of the negatives and for me that’s been having two really good seasons since.”

Beattie's captain at Manchester City, Steph Houghton – the player whose challenge ended Ross's tournament two years ago – performs a similar role for Phil Neville and England. The pair will almost certainly face each other at the Stade de Nice on Sunday and Beattie says both enjoy the totally integrated approach of their English club.

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“It's fantastic the way they really do have a one-club, one-team philosophy,” she said. “Since we turned professional in 2014-15 they've been brilliant with us and we're doing well – we won two trophies this season and you can't be disappointed with that. The celebrations along with the guys were brilliant.

“When Pep Guardiola was asked about being the first team to win a treble and he said the women had already done it, no one was surprised. That's the mentality at the club. It's not men’s football or women's football, you're not a men's coach or a women's coach, a male player or a female player – it's just football.

“That’s how it should be, 100 per cent. It’s how the game is going. The fact that women have only gone professional these last four, five, six years means we're still catching up, but we're getting there.”

As well as playing for Montpellier between 2013 and 2015, Beattie enjoyed a family holiday in France in 1998 when, entirely coincidentally, the men's World Cup was being staged.

“Johnnie and I watched it all with our face paint on,” she recalled. “You got to meet loads of kids from other countries and the fact that France made it to the final and then won it made it even more special.

“We had the tammies on, the French flags on our faces – it was a real mix, but so much fun. We went over there every year and absolutely loved it.”