Sarah Bonar back in Scotland XV to face England at Scotstoun

Scotland coach Shade Munro has made just one change to his starting line-up for Friday's Six Nations Championship match against England, restoring Sarah Bonar to the back row after injury ruled her out of the 26-3 defeat by France a fortnight ago. Perhaps more significantly, Jade Konkel remains at No 8 rather than returning to loosehead as Munro seeks maximum defensive solidity against opponents to whom Scotland lost 64-0 last year.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Feb 2018, 05:00 BST
Sarah Bonar has returned to the Scotland side and will face England. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNSSarah Bonar has returned to the Scotland side and will face England. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS
Sarah Bonar has returned to the Scotland side and will face England. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

Konkel started at prop against Wales, and only moved to the back row to face the French after Bonar, usually a lock, was forced to withdraw shortly before kick-off. The coaching team’s aim in playing Konkel up front and centre Hannah Smith in the back row, among other positional switches, was to have all of the squad’s best ball-players on the pitch at once. Now, however, that experiment is over, at least for the time being.

“Sarah’s fit, she’s passed all her fitness tests, she comes back in – there was no hassle there, really,” Munro said, explaining that the Aberdeen-born forward’s selection did not require too much debate. “The decision we had to make was whether we move Jade back to prop.

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“Jade was very effective at No 8 against France – she’s certainly effective in a retreating scrum, which can sometimes happen against the likes of France and England. We’ve gone for Siobhan McMillan at prop and Jade at 8, with Sarah and Rachel Malcolm either side of her in the back row.