Women's Six Nations 2023: Scotland can 'narrow gap' to England

The onus is on Scotland's new full-time players to narrow the gap on England, says Caity Mattinson before Saturday's Women's Six Nations opener.

Bryan Easson's side face the champions, targeting their fifth straight title, at Newcastle's Kingston Park.

Scottish Rugby announced 11-month professional contracts for 28 players in December, and Mattinson says the benefits are already clear to see.

"It's absolutely huge," the scrum-half said.

"You can really actually see it coming into camp, everyone's skill levels are that little bit better. And just that excitement as well because people aren't running on empty.

"More than anything it's probably recovery time. I coached last year so I was on my feet pretty much the entire day from eight in the morning until nine at night. So it makes a huge difference.

"There's definitely the resources in place for us to be able to narrow the gap now for sure. And that's on us now, that's our challenge as players to make sure we maximise the opportunities we've been given, so we can narrow that gap as quickly as possible."

Scotland have lost their past nine games, including three pool outings at last year's World Cup.

They suffered narrow defeats by Ireland, Italy and Wales, with their last-gasp World Cup loss to the Welsh particularly sore.

Easson's team host all three nations in this season's championship and hopes are high they can turn the close calls into victories.

"There's a real buzz around camp at the moment," said Mattinson, 26, who was capped by England in 2017 and 2018 before switching allegiances four years later.

"There's definitely no shying away from that being the goal. Those were really small margins and we have to convert those opportunities this year."