Wheeler’s pride in major milestone

In their last 6 Nations outing Scotland lost to unbeaten France 23-0 in the first womens rugby international to be held at Stirling RFC. For Lindsay Wheeler, it was a landmark occasion.

It was fantastic to gain my 50th cap in a home game said the 27-year-old(pictured running out last weekend)

We had a large home crowd for the match, probably because most of the Isle of Arran, where I'm from, had come out to support!

There was a good atmosphere and the match was competitive. We put in a much improved performance from that of the Wales game and there was a real buzz about the squad. Its just a shame we couldnt cross that try line and get some points on the board.

Suffering similar deficiencies to their male counterparts, the Scottish team have failed to get on the score board during this 6 Nations and have lost their opening three matches. However, the performances and score lines do suggest significant improvement to last year's tournament. In 2011 they lost to Eng 89-0, Wales 41-12 and France 53-3 compared to 2012 where they were beaten by England 47-0, Wales 20-0, and France 23-0.

Commenting on the 6 Nations to date, Lindsay says I think as a team we can take a lot of positives from our performances, especially against France and England. The girls worked hard on their fitness over the summer", preparation Wheeler missed due to injury.

The pre season work is evident on the park. Our defensive game has also improved and we are much more competitive. Now we really need to convert all that hard work into points. It is disappointing that we have not scored at all yet, but hopefully we can turn this around against Ireland.

A key player for Ireland is Lindsays club team mate Lynne Cantwel who is the most capped ever player for her country and who has made the move to fly-half this seasonl. Lynne is a fantastic team player. Sometimes it can be an advantage to know what you are up against, but with Lynne what you know is that she is going to give it her all for her team. Im not sure it is an advantage to know that! For 80mins on Friday night she will just be another player, but then Im sure we will have a drink and a laugh in the clubhouse after.

Richmond friends are also close by with Tess Forsberg, Katherine Muir and Susie Brown in the Scotland squad. Indeed Browns return meant Wheeler was required to move position to make way for her Captain in the match versus France.

Most of my caps have been in the second row. I have to say 8 is my preferred position and somewhere I am confident to play, but Susie is an excellent player with a phenomenal work rate. I am just excited to be selected alongside her in the back row. I have only played 6 once, against France. I enjoyed it and I will work hard to put in a performance if I am selected there again against Ireland.

She also has a familiar face in the dug out. Commenting on the influence of Scotland Head Coach Karen Findlay, who coaches her at both club and country level, Wheeler says Karen always demands a lot of her players, whether it be at club level or on the international field. The only difference is that at Scotland 99% of us understands her, whereas a translator is sometimes needed at Richmond!"

At either level she works us hard on the training pitch, provides constructive feedback, which is key to maximising our performance, but shell also have a bit of a joke at the end of a session. Having Karen at Richmond does mean she is always watching so you are under pressure to train and play hard at every match and every session, which at the end of the day is no bad thing.

This week Scotland face Ireland whom they beat 22-5 last year. However, Ireland come into the match following their biggest ever win over Wales last weekend.

Ireland are a team who you can never underestimate as the work ethic of the Irish girls is amazing so you always know you are in for a tough game. However, our game is improving match by match and despite their strong performances we still consider Ireland a team we can be competitive against.

Wheeler is unsure whether or not Ireland will benefit from playing consecutive matches. Its difficult to say. Playing three games back to back at international level is always tough, but does maintain a teams momentum.

Key for us beating Ireland is consistency in our set piece, she says, especially in the lineout and also in being able to kick for territory to allow us to play in the right areas of the field.

We need to improve this going into the Ireland game. We have also been working hard on our defence this 6 nations and against Ireland our defensive organisation and one-on-one tackle completion will be a big focus for us.

We have had the luxury of a bit of rest from the contact to recover from knocks and niggles last weekend, however we were still out on the training field working on the aspects of our game which let us down against France. The Irish girls will be confident after such a huge win against Wales and will have a bit of momentum coming into the game against us, but hopefully we have done enough in our training last weekend to combat this.

Scotland play Ireland at Ashbourne RFC, Co. Meath - Friday 9th March 2012, Kick-off 7.30pm