Five Nations Championships 2025: Day two round-up

Both countries' teams comfortably won their opening two fixtures against Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively and, following matches against each other today to conclude the group stages, will now face each other for a second time tomorrow with gold medals at stake.

Scotland’s women warmed up for tomorrow’s showpiece with a 25-16, 25-22, 20-25, 25-11 victory over England in the final match of the day on court one. 

Scotland libero, Laura McReady was delighted with her side’s victory. She said: “I can’t remember the last time we came out and defeated a strong England side, and I’ve been playing over 20 years now.

“To take that win and take it so positively and strongly against a strong, hard-hitting England team, I am really, really proud of the girls. We knew we had that performance in us, we just had to turn up.

“England really stepped up their serving pressure in the third set, we felt quite a bit of pressure and we weren’t passing as well as we were in the first two sets, so we’ll be trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again tomorrow.

“Today was more about the momentum and the mentality of going into tomorrow, but it’s definitely anybody's game, both sides are really strong, but momentum is definitely on our side, and the pressure is more on England.

“We’re in a good place for tomorrow, everyone is really happy and relaxed.”

Over on court two, Ireland picked up their first win of the weekend with a straight sets 25-15, 25-11, 25-18 victory over their Northern Ireland counterparts.

Ireland’s Sophie Nolan was proud of her side after two defeats to open the competition.

She said: “Today was always going to be tough mentally, but we went out with such a good attitude from the start.

“The energy was so high the whole game, even when we lost a point, we kept the energy up. From the very first point, I felt so good out on the court.

“We’ve come such a long way since Friday [opening defeat to England], and that comes down to confidence, taking a set off England.

“This morning was hard against Scotland, but we were happy with how we played and to carry that into this evening, and to knock it [win the set] in three was really good.

“We’re going home tonight really happy and energised for tomorrow.” 

In the morning games preceding the decider for top-spot, Scotland’s women were 25-16, 25-18, 25-17 winners over Ireland, while England saved five third-set points to eventually overcome Northern Ireland 25-19, 25-12, 27-25. 

After her country's straight sets win over the Irish, Scotland’s Alexis Crusey said, “It was great, we were looking to set the tone for today’s matches, using this first match to do that, and I think we executed well. 

“Ahead of playing England, we wanted to make sure we had a good rhythm going into it. 

“I’m really pleased with how we played, I think we did really well on the service line so as long as we can keep doing that and being consistent, and bring energy against the home crowd [against England], we want to make sure we maintain a high and consistent level of play.”

After winning the opening two sets, hosts England appeared to be heading for a third-set defeat as Northern Ireland led 24-19.

Clearly determined to avoid being taken to four sets again after Friday’s victory over Ireland, Maria Bertelli’s side reeled off six straight points to go to match point.

The Northern Irish promptly levelled things up again at 25-25 before England took the two points needed to complete the comeback and seal victory.

England’s Johanna Kruize, reflecting on the match, said: “Northern Ireland played some fantastic defence, so we really had to put our offence a little higher into gear.

“The way the team came back in that last set was amazing.

“I definitely think we are progressing each time we get on the court, which is ultimately what you want, a lot of us are still finding what it’s like to play with each other.

“The connections are growing with each game which is what we want to see.”

In the men’s tournament, England and Scotland faced each other with top-spot in the round-robin stage at stake.

With both sides making serene previous progress through the tournament, a tight match appeared on the cards, and so it proved as both sides were forced to their first four-set match of the weekend.

Nathan Fullerton top-scored with 18 points as England prevailed 25-18, 30-28, 23-25, 25-21 in a tight encounter.

The hosts' Ryan Poole recognised that his side had been given a tough examination by the Scots.

“In the first two games, Ireland and Northern Ireland put up a good fight, but this was the first time we’ve really been pushed back and challenged quite hard, so it was nice to see how we reacted," he said.

“There’s a lot to learn from this still, we’re quite disappointed we lost that [third] set.

“I think there’s a lot of things in our control that we can change, so I’m looking forward to watching that back tonight and working with the guys tomorrow.” 

Ryan doesn’t feel that today’s victory gives England any psychological advantage heading into tomorrow’s final rematch with Scotland.

He added: “I don’t think it makes any difference, for me, every time you’re playing for your country, especially when you’re playing against Scotland, there’s a rivalry there, we’re going to go full from the start, and treat it like a new game.

“They did some really good things today, we can’t deny that, but we’re going to try and focus on our game and if we can do what we want to do, then we will hopefully beat them again tomorrow.”

In the other match, Northern Ireland picked up their first win of the tournament with a 25-18, 27-25, 25-20 over Ireland ahead of the two sides meeting again in tomorrow’s third-place play-off.

Northern Ireland’s Aaron Fleming was pleased with his side’s performance. He said: “I thought we played very well, the guys were tired, we played a game this morning, and this afternoon the boys were really feeling it.

“So, it was great for them [the new players] to help us win the game.” 

Aaron was also happy to end the group stage with a win and added: “We’ve had two tough matches [against Scotland and England], I thought we’ve played decently, but not at our best level, but against Ireland, we really played at our best, and we just need to play at the same level and bring the same energy [for tomorrow’s game] as we did today.”

Before that, Scotland secured back-to-back straight sets wins with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-17 win over Ireland on court two, whilst England comfortably saw off Northern Ireland 25-20, 25-18, 25-18 to also preserve their 100% record.

Scotland’s Mike Siovas, after the win over the Irish said, “We were confident, very good at the receiving line and we just have to stay positive and confident in the hitting lines.

An England v Scotland clash never needs any introduction, no matter what sport is being played, and volleyball is no different.

Meanwhile, after England’s victory over Northern Ireland, Haydn Lawson of the host nation said: “Bits of the game were really spot on, we went out and tried to play clean volleyball where we’re winning the point straight off them.

“Few scrappy moments where we got into a bit of a battle with them, but we had a few good service runs under pressure where we showed that we’re the better team.

“We managed to take the game away from them."

“I think we need to tighten up those relationships, nailing that first pass so we can run all of those plays that we’ve been working on in training.

“Less service errors towards the start of the game, but [looking ahead to Scotland], we’re looking to go out and win that game and keep the rivalry going and show that England are the better team. We’ve got the squad to do it.”

First serve in the men’s gold medal match between England and Scotland men is tomorrow at 10.30am, with the women’s final getting underway at 12.45pm. 

Article by Andy Durrant. Images by SImon Clarke and Keeran Marquis