Scotland hoping to build on history as Murrayfield looks to the future

Another matchday at Murrayfield; another historic occasion. Eight days on from Scotland's momentous 21-6 beating of the Springboks, their first victory against South Africa for 33 years, tomorrow's events at the home of Scottish rugby are also destined for a place in the record books. Before Ian McGeechan's men get to tackle Fiji in the third and final Test of their autumn series, Scotland's women get to grips with Sweden at noon – the first international involving the fairer sex to be played in an established national stadium in the northern hemisphere.

It is a bold initiative on the part of the Scottish Rugby Union – the same body that resisted numbering players' jerseys for so long because, in the words of J Aikman Smith, the long-time secretary of the SRU: "We are required to deal with a rugby match, not a cattle market". This is also the same body that bought just 14 jerseys for the first Scotland international after the First World War, because the legendary Jock Wemyss had been issued with one in 1914.

The Scottish men have been playing at Murrayfield since their Grand Slam clincher against England in 1925, but never before have they achieved a clean sweep in an autumn series. Considering Fiji have conceded 122 points and 16 tries in losing to Wales and Ireland in the past two weeks, the prospect of them tripping at the final hurdle would appear to be as likely as... well, as likely as women ever being allowed to tread the hallowed Murrayfield turf once seemed.

Complacency has never been a Caledonian characteristic and nobody at Murrayfield has been basking in the afterglow of last week's victory, Scotland's first against major opposition from the southern hemisphere for 20 years. Instead, there has been a steely determination to build on the platform of what was a thoroughly convincing forward-driven success against the Springboks.

As coach McGeechan put it yesterday: "It would be criminal for us not to be trying to build on what we've done so far. We've looked hard – probably harder than ever – at our game and how we want to present it. We want to win games because of what we do, not because of what the opposition doesn't do.

"I think it's coming, because we're definitely better at playing 'head up'. The big worry when you go in front against South Africa is that you start playing to the scoreboard rather than playing the game, and last week we kept playing the game, which was quite an important step."

Not that there will be an unbroken continuity to the Scotland line up. McGeechan and his fellow-selectors have made four changes, bringing in Ben Hinshelwood at full-back for his first start, recalling Gregor Townsend at outside-half, replacing the rested Scott Murray with Jason White in the second row and calling Jon Petrie into a reshuffled back row in which Simon Taylor switches from No 8 to blindside flanker.

The last time Scotland met Fiji, in Suva in 1998, they lost 51-26. Rowen Shepherd played as a replacement full-back that day. Tomorrow his sister, Rhona, will be on the pitch from the start at Murrayfield – at inside centre for the ground-breaking Scottish women's team.