Six Nations: Scotland change two for trip to England

Captain Rachel Malcolm misses out with a concussion as Scotland make two changes for their Six Nations trip to England on Saturday.

Malcolm suffered a head knock in the 25-17 home defeat by Italy last weekend, as did scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden.

Fly-half Helen Nelson will lead the team in Malcolm’s absence.

Caity Mattinson takes over at number nine and Jade Konkel comes in at number eight as Evie Gallagher moves to blindside flanker in place of Malcolm.

Rachel McLachlan joins those two in the back row and will earn her 50th cap, while lock Becky Boyd stays in the team after making her first start against the Italians.

There are a trio of uncapped players on the bench, with Gemma Bell among the forward options, while Rhea Clarke provides scrum-half cover and centre Rachel Philipps could also make a potential debut.

Scotland opened with victory over Wales but are now fifth in the table after defeats by France and Italy.

England, aiming for a seventh successive title, lead the way with three bonus-point wins.

England have won all 23 Six Nations meetings with Scotland, the past five encounters settled by an aggregate score of 266-22.

“England have the ability to go through you physically, they also have the ability to go round you,” said head coach Bryan Easson. “They can suffocate you defensively.

“They have such a good team, one to 15, or should I say one to 40. No matter what changes they make, they have world class players coming in.

“It’s a huge task but one we are certainly up for.

“We were really disappointed with our performance against Italy so this is an opportunity to put that to bed and for this group to show the progress we have made.”