Malcolm out of Scotland's Six Nations finale in Dublin

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm will miss the team’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations finale against Ireland due to injury.

In a social media post, Scottish Rugby confirmed that the 34-year-old back-row has returned to her club side, Trailfinders Women, to continue rehabilitation.

Malcolm was ruled out of Scotland’s 41-14 loss against Italy in Round 3 with injury ahead of kick-off and was not involved at all in Scotland’s 69-28 loss to France last weekend.

Sione Fukofuka’s first Women’s Six Nations has been heavily impacted with injury. Over the course of the tournament Emma Orr, Evie Wills, Rachel McLachlan and Hannah Walker have picked up Championship ending injuries.

Lana Skeldon, who stood in as skipper for Malcolm in Parma, missed the France fixture at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium.

This endless tirade of injuries has meant that their new coaching group – which includes ex-Wales and Fiji boss Ioan Cunningham, former Canada forwards coach Dave Butcher and skills coach Claire Cruikshank –  have been unable to have any consistency.

Combined with poor performances, which included conceding 12 tries against England at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, the side could finish this year’s Championship with the wooden spoon should Wales get a result against Italy at Cardiff Arms Park this Sunday lunchtime.

After his team secured a try-scoring bonus point in their loss to France, Fukofuka said: “Really proud of the response. Obviously we spoke about it pre-game and all week we’ve spoken to the players around putting on a performance for the home crowd and the girls have spoken and shared it pretty openly that the Hive is their home and they feel like it’s their home.

“So it was great to see them come out and show elements of what we’ve been working on. There’s still a lot to go through. We’ll comb through it tomorrow and review and get ready for Ireland but the positive elements of that game today was really just getting our opportunities in the attacking half and being able to convert that.

“Being able to score four tries against a team like France shows the potential. Now we’ve got to build on that potential. It’s a big step forward in terms of mindset and attitude, just reinforcing how important it was that we came out and put a performance in front of the home crowd that was worthy of a Scottish jersey, that was worthy of playing at the Hive.

“A lot of work to do still, obviously, in terms of closing the gap. We still gave points to a really good French team but being able to score four points and take a bonus point out of that was really pleasing.”

Scotland travel to Dublin this weekend to play Scott Bemand’s Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. It is the first time that Ireland’s women will have played a standalone fixture at the national stadium.

Over 26,000 tickets have been sold for the contest. A win of any kind for Ireland will see the side claim third overall in the Women’s Six Nations table. Last time out Bemand’s team beat Wales 33-12 in Belfast.