Scotland Women name unchanged team for crucial World Cup tie

Murrayfield Wanderers stand-off Helen Nelson was player of the match last week and retains the No. 10 jersey. Picture: SNS

Nine Edinburgh-based players have been named in an unchanged Scotland Women's starting XV as they head to Madrid to take on Spain in the second leg of their World Cup qualifier this weekend.

The teams meet on Saturday in Madrid (1pm local) with the Scots looking to overturn a 10-5 deficit from last week’s first match in Glasgow.

The victors on aggregate will go through to the showpiece event in Ireland next year and Scotland head coach Shade Munro has kept faith with his charges. As a result Murrayfield Wanderers stand-off Helen Nelson, player of the match last week, retains the No. 10 jersey.

Another three players from Capital clubs are on the substitutes’ bench.

Munro said: “I was very proud of the team last week. From where Scotland Women have been to where they are now, it was a huge performance. “We learned a lot from last week.’s match and have been working on various areas since we came into camp at Oriam this week.

“The players are confident and upbeat . it’s only half-time in this tie. We still have something to play for when we go over there and we are certainly going to give it our best shot.”

Scotland Women’s team: Chloe Rollie; Megan Gaffney, Lisa Thomson, Lisa Martin, Rhona Lloyd; Helen Nelson, Sarah Law; Heather Lockhart, Lana Skeldon, Tracey Balmer, Emma Wassell, Deborah McCormack, Jemma Forsyth, Louise McMillan, Karen Dunbar. Subs: Lucy Park, Lindsey Smith, Katie Dougan, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm, Lyndsay O’Donnell, Jenny Maxwell, Eilidh Sinclair.