Murrayfield usually looms over Scotland women’s home games. Its fortress walls arch over the team’s regular home at the Hive like a villain in a children’s cartoon. The two rugby stadiums are direct neighbours in Edinburgh but on Saturday Scotland are swapping one for the other and making history by hosting their first standalone match at the home of Scottish rugby against the old enemy England in the Women’s Six Nations.
Almost 30,000 tickets have been sold for the game, obliterating the current attendance record for a women’s rugby game in Scotland. That record stands at 7,774 and was set in the 2024 Six Nations when the team played the Red Roses at the Hive. It will not just be a record for rugby either: the expected crowd is the biggest for a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland too. The captain Rachel Malcolm, who won her first cap for Scotland in 2016, never thought a standalone game would materialise.
“I can’t wait, it is a landmark moment for us,” she said. “It is so cool we can now say we are playing at our national stadium and we have crowds big enough to warrant that. That is somewhere I never thought I would get to in my career or my lifespan in this sport. To be doing that now in what is such a pivotal time in women’s rugby and women’s sport is really cool. We just need to keep driving the numbers and getting eyes on the game.”
The team making history at Murrayfield is thanks to the exposure they got at last year’s World Cup, according to the former Scotland favourite Donna Kennedy. Scotland reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 at the 2025 tournament, which was held in England, but were knocked out by the Red Roses.
Kennedy, the most-capped Scotland player ever with 115, said: “I think it has definitely elevated everything from a commerciality point of view and the media coverage, that is the platform, that is the springboard. It had been coming previous to that but the World Cup has really taken it forward.
“By 2010 we were starting to get a bit of traction but nowhere near the traction we have now. Definitely in the last five years it has been at a level that has given more exposure but you have to put this down to the World Cup.”
Kennedy added if Scotland maintain their current table position it will be a successful campaign for the team. “For me it is probably going to be England and France and I would like to see Scotland in that third position,” Kennedy said.
Scotland know what awaits them against England, who have won the tournament for seven years in a row. The hurt for Scotland in these fixtures has lasted 27 years with the last time they defeated their old rivals back in 1999. The Red Roses are currently on a 28-game winning streak against Scotland.
However Scotland, who are without the injured Emma Orr, will feel they have a chance of finally getting one over on England because the Red Roses have a mounting injury list.
The vice-captain Alex Matthews is the latest to be ruled out after she picked up a shoulder problem against Ireland. England also confirmed on Thursday that the prop Hannah Botterman and the hooker May Campbell have been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with injuries. That means England are without 13 of the squad who won the World Cup last year because of retirement, pregnancy or injury. Demelza Short, who was playing for the under-18s last year and will win her first senior cap on Saturday, is among the players coming in.
The England defence coach, Sarah Hunter, said the unavailability list may be a blessing in disguise with an eye on the 2029 World Cup in Australia.
“It is quite unheard of in an England squad over the years,” she said. “As a coaching staff we are just taking it in our stride. The great thing with people’s unavailability or injuries is that it gives an opportunity to someone else.
“If we think about it in a four‑year cycle it is almost good we are having this situation now that we can grow and develop some of the younger players coming through that might be there in four years’ time. It might be accelerating them a little bit but all of the players who have come into the squad have been playing brilliantly for their clubs in the PWR. They have been an absolute credit to this group and it is exciting they get the opportunity. We are growing and learning from the situations we are put in.”
Despite being without so many players, England remain favourites. The Red Roses are on a 34-game winning streak across all competitions but if Scotland can defy the odds it would be a huge cherry on top of their milestone day.
