Q&A: Scotland coach Karen Findlay

What has been the focus of preparation in the past six months?“The focus has been building on our skills and fitness development that our Sevens programme achieved over the summer period and cascading that down through the squad. From there on in, we have widened the player base via the Scotland Series matches and these have involved the top identified 50 players with an opportunity for anyone outside that to come in and have a chance to stick their hand up and show what they can do. Meanwhile the coaching staff have been keeping an eye on individual league match performances and feeding that back in.  We were fortunate to have squad weekends in September, October and December which involved 33 players. These included some new faces such as back rowers Anna McFarlane and Anna Stodter, winger Sarah Smith and scrum -half Sarah Law, alongside a few players such as forward Jade Konkel whose made the exciting transfer up from the U20s squad to senior level.”How do you feel you’ve advanced since the last Six Nations?“This is still a young squad so there are a lot of aspects that we need to continue building on whilst trying to balance everything out, which is never an easy job while your players are holding down full-time jobs. But there has undoubtedly been a build in the strength and conditioning gains and individual skill levels and execution.  This was intensified with the Sevens programme in the summer and there is now genuine competition and depth in positions that we didn’t have six months ago as a result of that, particularly in the back division.  Another key factor has been developing the leadership within the team. We have implemented a player group composed of both senior and new players, home based and exiles, and  giving them more ownership of on field and off field management whilst  crucially listening to their invaluable feedback on a  range of issues.”What key areas do you feel you’ve got to improve on to improve your rankings in this season’s tournament?"A huge factor for the players is having the confidence in their own ability. When you are a young developing side you need a break at some point. People may turn round and say ‘well you make your own luck’ but I’ve watched many a good team get a fortunate lucky rub of the green that turns a game in one direction. It goes without saying that defensively there has to be an improvement. You can score as many tries as you like but if you can’t maintain the integrity of your own line then you are always going to be chasing the game and we simply cannot afford to be doing that. So defensive effort and execution will be key, and with that individual tackle completion. Our scrum last season was solid but our lineout needs to match that and we have made that a key focus for improvement. We have to use  our home advantage given we have matches against Wales, Ireland and Italy and not be scared to try and show what our back-line can now  do."Your squad includes  plenty of young faces stepping up – what’s the development of young players in  Scotland been like over the past few years?"A  great amount of work was and is continuing to be done to promote girls rugby and the U20 set up and it is clear that is working. We have seen Lisa Martin, Sarah Law and Jade Konkel all come up through that pathway and Jules Marciano and Donna Kennedy are always on the search for new  young talent."What are your targets this season in the Six Nations?"Having your first match away against England is never ideal - given how well they have been performing . I don’t know of any other nation having near the same amount of access to their players in terms of squad days, test match experience and the level of preparation that enables coaching staff to have leading into the Six Nations.  That said, from our perspective there will be a huge focus on our home matches and improving our performances against Italy, Ireland and Wales from last season. Those games will be key for us."