Scotland survived an 87-minute nail biter to come out on top against Wales and get their Women’s Six Nations off to a winning start. Here are some talking points from the match.
Previous Wales tensions returns
There was plenty chat around and during the match about the tight scorelines between Scotland and Wales. That big victory in the Rugby World Cup last year proved, unfortunately for all our nerves and fingernails, to be an aberration.
Apart from the 2022 World Cup match, this may have been the tensest of all. It did have a slightly worrying feel to matches of a three or four years ago, at least in the first half, when the Wales forwards seem to be getting much more dominance in both carry and tackle and Scotland’s set piece looked shaky at times. But in the last couple of years, Scotland have showed that they have the superior back line and that paid off here too.
Full credit to the team for their composure throughout, especially those making tackle after tackle in those crazy minutes past the 80 minute mark and who made sure it was as hard as possible for Wales. A special shout out for Emma Wassell, who not only made more than one important tackle in that red time, but hung on for dear life to young Welsh winger Seren Singleton’s arm and prevented a late line break defending channels you don’t usually find a second row lurking in.
Maybe next time though, they can save us all some palpitations and just end the game on 80 minutes if the opportunity presents itself.
Second half tactical changes break the game open
Scotland’s attack looks to be based around quick hands and flat passes across the defence with the attacker running into the line at pace. If it clicks, it can hopefully be pretty effective, but it wasn’t really working in the first half. There were a few breaks and half breaks here and there, but mostly it was contained. The try came when a loose ball misaligned the Welsh defenders for a split second and Emma Orr, as ever, capitalised on the chaos.
In the second half, the attack looked sharper, but there also seemed to be more kicking, not only to switch things up, but to pin Wales back and make them work for territory and to try take advantage of a slightly poorer kicking game from the opposition. For the most part, when the kick chase was good, this was a fairly successful tactic, helped by the kicking not only coming from Helen Nelson and Meryl Smith but also occasionally from Chloe Rollie and Rhona Lloyd.
t really paid off with the wicked bounce ahead of the second try – given the way that Lloyd was hareing up her wing, it is possible the kick was intended to bounce towards her, but it jagged sharply, and the excellent chase from Rollie and Shona Campbell saw the ball land in the latter’s hands for her to sprint away and record her first international try.
Smith’s kick pass for the third try was an absolute peach, there were large gaps behind the Welsh defensive line for her to pick out but it was weighted so perfectly, Lucia Scott didn’t have to break stride to round the last defender and score the decisive try. The one worry is this tactic probably won’t work very well against England – if Kayleigh Powell beat the chasing defender, she was making some serious metres and negating any advantage, and the English back three could have a field day in a similar situation. But Scotland showed they can vary it, and they will need to be completely on top of their kicking game to make some inroads in to the next game.
Meryl and Shona return and bring the fun
It has been well over three years since we’ve seen Shona Campbell in a Scotland XVs shirt and it was delightful to see her back. The highlight was of course her try, which was brilliantly taken. Her willingness to constantly attack any time she had the ball and a sniff of a gap was a joy to watch. The field position for the successfully kicked penalty came after a lovely dummy, swerve, linebreak and offload. Even if Francesca McGhie returns for the England game, Campbell has played at a high level across the back three and at outside centre, and even at scrum half for Sale, so she could be a really game-breaking substitute if she doesn’t start.
Although it wasn’t quite as long since we’ve seen Smith wearing the thistle, it has still been over 18 months. She brought her usual mix of hard running and inventive distribution. The kick assist for Scott’s try was of course the highlight, but again there were some important half breaks. It was great to see how much Nelson and Smith mixed up who would be first receiver, just creating more uncertainty in the defence and allowing Nelson different options to create plays with.
Smith is one of those playmakers who seem to have more options available to them than should really be possible and a lot of the best passages of attack had her fingerprints on them.
The younger loose forwards point the way
Holland Bogan has played a lot of blindside flanker for Glasgow Warriors and had she come on for Rachel Malcolm, we would have had a back row with a combined age of 61. Emily Couborough, the debutant number 8, is the youngest of all at 19. And it was quite the debut. Her 15 carries and 19 successful tackles were the highest figures of each for Scotland and her 19 tackles were as many as any player made across the three games of the opening round. Despite her age, Couborough looked absolutely at home at international level, proving a strong line out option too. And although the first touch was spilled, she ran some excellent, pacey lines on to the ball to really test the defensive line. Bogan also looked ready-made for this level, throwing in a lineout steal and winning a turnover penalty, alongside some really assured touches, including a vital quick pass in the build up to the Scott try.
And on the last of that young trio, Alex Stewart looked back to her dynamic best, with several huge carries, a turnover steal of her own and that ridiculous engine of hers seemed to be fully firing. In all three of the tries, you can see Stewart running a supporting line, not far behind the member of the back three who eventually scores. She just never seems to stop.
The other glimpse of the future was how much all three seem so comfortable operating in the attacking line both as genuine line break options with their pace or as distributors, meaning all three of them can be used as auxiliary centres or edge forwards, which as the two debutants settle into the senior team, should bring another dimension to Scotland’s attack.
Stage is set for a huge match against the world champions
Scotland will have a few obvious fixes before they take on the Red Roses on Saturday. The line out had one of its very bad days, there were a couple of unnecessary penalties and the maul defence might need a bit of work.
No-one expects a victory – England have won every match they have played this decade bar the 2022 World Cup final. And with this being only Scotland’s second match under the new coaching team, it is also asking a lot to continue to close the gap (as they did between their two matches last year).
This will be the biggest ever crowd for women’s sport in Scotland, and the biggest crowd this team has ever played in front (beating the 25,295 at Ashton Gate in the quarter final last year). This team has shown it has the mentality to rise to the occasion and hopefully they will put in a performance to genuinely make themselves proud.
Whatever happens, it is going to be an amazing moment for women’s rugby in Scotland.
