Scotland skipper praises 'phenomenal' Dave Butcher and reveals how players handled sudden Sione Fukofuka exit

The former forwards coach was thrust into the role following the sudden departure of Sione Fukofuka in August. He oversaw their opening three WXV Series matches against Canada, New Zealand and Australia and will continue in the role as they head Down Under for two more fixtures with the Wallaroos this month.

Despite all three of those games ending in defeat, Malcolm says their interim boss has been ‘brilliant in not just improving performance levels but also the atmosphere in the squad. She described Butcher as a coach that the team ‘wants to play for’ and ‘wants to win for’.

“A great guy but also a phenomenal head coach” - Scotland captain full of praise for interim head coach Dave Butcher

“One thing about this group is we are ridiculously united,” the flanker said when asked how the team had dealt with the disruption of Fukofuka’s exit. “There's been a lot thrown at us in the decades, and a bit that I've been a part of.

“One thing that's quite literally never faltered is how we deal with adversity and how we stay together in those moments, despite sometimes not always agreeing on things. I've always held, as a leader of this group, that nothing fractures us.

“Yes, there was disruption, but it was kind of next job mentality. We've always known what our focus is and where we want to go, and expending energy on something like that is not going to get us there.

“What was so pleasing to see, probably for me as a leader, was just how phenomenal a job Dave's done since coming in. I don't think he's probably been given enough credit.

“Where we got to by the end of Six Nations in terms of performance wasn't what we wanted to be, and in terms of our environment wasn't where we wanted to be. I think the difference that Dave made in such a short space of time shows what a great guy he is, but also a phenomenal head coach.

“For us to have someone of that calibre come in and take control of our environment was really cool. It made our job as players easy to just jump on that train and get going.

“That's exactly where we want to be and I think all of us want to get this right for him as well because of that job that he's done. That's what you want, is a coach you want to play for, a coach you want to win for. We've definitely got that at the minute and hopefully we can go and do it proud.”

In terms of how the transition from Fukofuka to Butcher happened, and how she dealt with it, Malcolm added: “Dave and I had a really good relationship from working together as player-coach, which was probably a nice way to lead into him taking on the head coach job. I worked really closely with Sione all the way through and, in all fairness, he definitely was trying to do the right things. It just wasn't working.

“When Dave came in, we both agreed on the fact that the environment needed to improve for us to get the best out of the group. We've worked pretty closely together throughout this whole time to get that right and we're on the right track to get us back there.”

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