World Cup start for Belisle after late Scotland call

Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final: England v Scotland

Venue: Ashton Gate, Bristol Date: Sunday 14 September Kick-off: 16:00 BST

Coverage: Live on BBC One, Sports Extra Two and BBC Sport website and app

Months after calling time on her Scotland career, Christine Belisle marks her return with a remarkable starting place in the World Cup quarter-final against England in Bristol.

The 41-time capped prop was added to the squad on Monday following injuries to Elliann Clarke and Lisa Cockburn.

The Canada-born 31-year-old was overlooked when an extended training squad for the tournament was chosen at the end of May and appeared to announce her international retirement via a social media post.

Her most recent outing for Scotland came in the WXV2 event in October of last year.

The match on Sunday could be a final bow for Jade Konkel, who returns to the back row in place of Rachel McLachlan, meaning Evie Gallagher moves to open-side flanker.

The number eight will retire at the end of the tournament, after becoming Scotland's first contracted professional women's rugby player in 2016.

Joining Konkel and Gallagher in the back-row is skipper Rachel Malcolm, who makes her 53rd appearance as captain - a record number across the men's and women's teams in Scotland.

Molly Poolman, who replaced Cockburn after 24 minutes in the 40-19 pool stage loss to Canada, stays on the bench to provide cover for Belisle.

Scotland beat Wales and Fiji to finish as runners-up in Group B, while England cruised to wins over Australia, United States and Samoa, finishing with a +191 points difference.

Easson opts for 'experienced' Belisle and 'destructive' Konkel

While Belisle's initial omission from the squad came as a shock, Bryan Easson described the phone call to bring her in from the cold as "fairly straightforward".

"When you have the opportunity to have another tighthead of experience, Christine was quite an easy one for us," said the head coach.

"It was fairly straightforward, to be honest."

The decision to start Konkel was a trickier one though, with the impressive McLachlan missing out to accommodate the veteran back-row.

"That was a tough call for us because I think Rachel McLachlan has been outstanding," Easson said.

"She made 17 tackles last week, and from an attack point of view she's a bit of glue as well. You look at Rhona Lloyd's try, she was a link for that.

"But when you're playing against a team like England with their physicality, and you've got a ball carrier and quite a destructive defender like Jade, it was key.

"It was a tactical change, it was nothing other than a tactical change. It certainly wasn't performance-based."

Scotland team to face England

Scotland: Rollie; Lloyd, Orr, Thomson, McGhie; Nelson, Brebner-Holden; Bartlett, Skeldon, Belisle, Wassell, Bonar, Malcolm (capt), Gallagher, Konkel.

Replacements: Martin, Wright, Poolman, Donaldson, McLachlan, Stewart, Mattinson, Wills.