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Scotland suffer double injury blow ahead of Australia WXV clash
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Scotland interim head coach Dave Butcher has been dealt a double injury blow ahead of his side’s meeting with the Wallaroos.
Emma Wassell has been ruled out of Scotland’s remaining WXV Global Series fixtures with injury.
The 31-year-old lock, who has won 80 caps for her country, will miss this weekend’s fixture with Australia in Edinburgh, and the Tests against the same opposition in Sydney in Canberra.
VIDEO
Wassell made her return to international rugby ahead of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 after a year out of the game after a benign tumour was found in her chest.
Centre, Rachel Philipps, has been ruled out of this weekend’s clash with the Wallaroos due to concussion protocols. She has been replaced in Dave Butchers’ squad by Holly McIntyre.
Philipps only got her first Scotland start at this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations. Against France the 24-year-old scored two tries.
The centre has started WXV Global Series fixtures against Canada and the Black Ferns.
On Saturday, Scotland take on a Wallaroos team that have impressed against England and France, but are yet to pick up a win in their autumnal campaign.
Last time out against France in Aix-en-Provence, the Wallaroos at one stage had a four-player advantage and saw a 19-12 half-time be overturned as France finished the fixture as 29-26 winners.
“Australia are a very, very good team so it is another opportunity for us to really challenge ourselves and grow,” Dave Butcher, Scotland interim head coach, said.
“As a coaching staff we will be looking at the last two games over the rest of the weekend and from Monday we will start building in terms of where we think we can optimise our performance next time out.
“And we’re not changing anything, I want to be really clear on that. We’re playing a certain way to get outcomes eventually.
“But the growth that the players have had over these last two weeks has been fantastic.
“Now we need to start looking at how we switch that growth into getting more positive outcomes.”
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