​Borderers Lana Skeldon, Lisa Thomson and Chloe Rollie to start for Scottish national women’s rugby team against USA

Hooker Lana Skeldon at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)Hooker Lana Skeldon at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)
Hooker Lana Skeldon at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)
​Borderers Lana Skeldon, Lisa Thomson and Chloe Rollie have all kept their places in the Scottish national women’s rugby team’s starting line-up after helping them beat hosts South Africa last Friday in their WXV2 opener.

Head coach Bryan Easson has named an unchanged side to play the USA in their second fixture at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town tomorrow, with kick-off at 1pm.

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Hooker Skeldon, 29, scored two tries and inside centre Thomson, 26, one as the Scots beat the Springboks 31-17 at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, with Evie Gallagher and Leah Bartlett also touching down.

“It was pleasing to open our WXV2 campaign with a win,” said Easson, 50.

Chloe Rollie at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)Chloe Rollie at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)
Chloe Rollie at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)

“From a performance perspective, however, it was a physical, scrappy encounter and we probably didn’t get as much flow into the game as we would have liked.

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“The players who started last week performed well and deserved another shot on Friday, so it was important to keep consistency in selection.

“USA are similar to South Africa in terms of their physicality and will bring a lot of athleticism to the game.

“I think they will pose a threat in terms of their attacking play but we’ve prepared well this week and hope to put in a solid performance on Friday.”

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Lisa Thomson at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)Lisa Thomson at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)
Lisa Thomson at a Scotland training session in South Africa this week (Pic: Scottish Rugby)

Hawick’s Thomson and Skeldon are now on 53 caps and 64 respectively, with Jedburgh’s Rollie, 28, on 59.

Joining them in the Scots’ starting XV, captained by Rachel Malcolm, are Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Francesca McGhie, Helen Nelson, Mairi McDonald, Bartlett, Christine Belisle, Emma Wassell, Louise McMillan, Rachel McLachlan and Gallagher.

Elis Martin, Anne Young, Lisa Cockburn, Eva Donaldson, Jade Konkel, Caity Mattinson, Meryl Smith and Liz Musgrove will be on the replacements’ bench.