By Joe Harvey

Lucy MacRae believes Scotland’s Under-20s ‘deserve’ to finish the inaugural Six Nations Women’s Summer Series on a high as they take on Ireland in Parma.

Scotland have lost their opening two matches, beaten 17-13 by the hosts Italy before going down 67-10 against France on Tuesday.

Claire Cruikshank’s side round off their campaign against Ireland, who are also winless going into Round 3, and centre MacRae hopes the tight-knit bonds which have formed off the field result in a change of fortunes on it.

“I have really enjoyed the last two weeks with this team,” MacRae said.

“We have become a really good group of friends and teammates. Playing rugby with them has been a really good experience and a great way to finish off the season.

“This team is so close-knit on and off the pitch.

“When someone makes a mistake, we back each other rather than bickering. We are massively supportive.

“You saw that in the Italy and France games. When things go wrong on the pitch, we pick each other up, back each other and keep going. I think that comes through in our rugby.”

“The girls deserve a good game against Ireland. We have been training hard and we have been showcasing what we have been doing in training.

“It would be great to finish on a high, for everyone. People that are injured, back home supporting, the coaches. A win would be a great way to finish this.”

MacRae, a University of Edinburgh student, has started both of Scotland’s opening two games at inside centre and will resume her midfield partnership with Lucia Scott against Ireland.

Head coach Cruikshank has brought flanker Merryn Gunderson and scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden back into the starting XV while co-captain Poppy Fletcher returns at loosehead.

“This has been an unbelievable experience for me as a coach with how players have bought into everything that we have asked of them,” Cruikshank said.

“I genuinely don’t think we could have asked for much more. Whilst we will go away thankful for the experience, there is going to be a sadness because something is coming to an end.

“I am super proud of the effort against France. We were up against it for large parts of that game, and we never backed off. 

“We kept going and that is the fighting spirit that we will hopefully see against Ireland.”

The Women’s Summer Series is available to fans all over the world via exclusive coverage on the Six Nations U20 YouTube channels, with supporting coverage across dedicated U20 Six Nations social media channels.