France 41

Scotland 10

By Rowan Davidson

at The Grand Stade Lille Metropole

BORDERERS took to the pitch last weekend as Scotland faced France in the Women's Six Nations.

Chloe Rollie, Lisa Thomson, Lana Skeldon and Nicola Howat all played on Saturday.

And Selkirk’s Mhairi Grieve was the 24th player in the squad.

Following the men’s defeat in Paris, the ladies match kicked off at 9pm.

The Scotland women’s team played well in front of the captivated crowd and came away with two tries.

The first was scored by Rhona Lloyd and the second by Emma Wassell.

Lloyd’s try was the first against the French women since 2010.

The Grand Stade Lille Metropole was almost sold out with the supporters counted in at 8,819.

And they got to enjoy the game while a 40-piece band played to create an electric atmosphere.

Refereeing the game was Sara Cox, a former English player, who is the world’s first professional female rugby union referee.

Hawick High school’s Lisa Thomson, who plays at centre, captained the squad on Saturday.

Her first rugby game was with the Jedburgh Mini’s and has since gone on to receive 22 caps for Scotland.

Lana Skeldon plays Hooker for the team and has 32 caps for Scotland.

Originally from Melrose, she attended Hawick High School and was named as one of eight ‘2021’ contracted players by Scottish rugby ahead of the 2018/19 season.

Chloe Rollie, from Jedburgh, was playing full-back.

And she has a total of 28 caps for Scotland.

Mhairi Greive didn’t play on Saturday but is a regular in the Scottish line-up.

The former Selkirk High School student began playing with the Selkirk Rhinos and has racked up 12 caps for the Scottish women.

Originally from Roberton near Hawick, Nicola Howat has a total of five caps for the Scotland squad.

The final score in Lille was 41-10 to the French women who fought hard and scored seven tries.

The side go on to play Wales at Scotstoun stadium on March 8 in the fourth match of the Six Nations tournament.

In 2017, the team picked up a win over Wales on home soil, so the team will be looking to repeat the win.