women
international women
Scotland Interim head coach Dave Butcher has been dealt a double injury blow ahead of his side’s clash with the Wallaroos.
Emma Wassell was excluded from the rest of Scotland WXV Global Series sequels with the injury.
The 31-year-old lock, who won 80 caps for his national team, will miss this weekend’s game with Australia in Edinburgh, and Tests against the same opposition in Sydney in Canberra.
Wassell returned to international rugby before women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 after a year out of action after being diagnosed with a benign breast tumor.
Center Rachel Philipps has been ruled out of this weekend’s clash with the Wallaroos due to concussion protocol. She was replaced in Dave Butchers’ team by Holly McIntyre.
Philipps only had her first start in Scotland at this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations. Against France The 24-year-old scored two tries.
The center started the WXV Global Series matches against Canada and black ferns.
On Saturday, Scotland take on an impressive Wallaroos side England and France, but are yet to pick up a win in their autumn campaign.
Last time out against France in Aix-en-Provence, the Wallaroos were up four men at one stage and a 19-12 half-time deficit was overturned as France ran out 29-26 winners.
“Australia are a very, very good team, so it’s another opportunity for us to really challenge ourselves and grow,” said Dave Butcher, Scotland’s interim coach.
“As a coaching staff we will look at the last two games over the rest of the weekend and from Monday we will start building in terms of where we think we can optimize our performance next time out.
“And we’re not changing anything, I want to be clear about that. We play a certain way to get results in the end. That’s what happens.”
“But the growth the players have made in the last two weeks has been fantastic.
“Now we have to start looking at how to translate that growth into more positive results.”
