Scotland fell to another heavy defeat in their WXV series opener against Canada. It was at least an improved performance from the Women’s Six Nations, but they will also be disappointed to find themselves further away from Canada than they had been at last year’s World Cup. Here are some talking points.
Two major fixes needed quickly
Getting the negative out of the way first, the biggest worry was how much Scotland are still being turned over when they have the ball, and how many tries they are conceding as they struggle to reset their defensive shape at the speed they need to at this level.
The turnovers didn’t quite represent the horror show versus Italy (and others) in the Six Nations but the team still saw a lot of attacking opportunities come to a stuttering halt as Canada won the ball back. Not only did Scotland lose their own momentum, this may be the worst team to give the ball up to when attacking. The speed at which Canada play, and the fluidity of their attacking structures, means they may be the best team in the world at transitioning from defence to attack and were given optimal ball to play with.
At least with the defence, the tackle completion percentage was much higher than some of the worrying numbers in the Six Nations – in fact it was a very respectable 92% completion rate. But although there was the occasional passage where Scotland slowed ruck ball down a bit, they struggled to get into shape quick enough to react to Canada’s fast play, which meant they were always defensively on the back foot and were easily finished off either by the forward power, or the quick feet of the likes of Olivia Apps.
In the second half, there were gaps appearing too often, and too often leading to tries. They are not the only team who Canada do this to, but at times it was just a bit too soft and it was not a pretty sight for Scotland fans.
Scotland show their attacking variety – in glimpses
Scotland didn’t have a whole lot of front foot ball or opportunities in the Canada 22, but they did at least show there are more than a few tools in their attacking toolbox against top teams. The first and third tries came off powerful attacking mauls and the field position for the third try came a few phases back from yet another excellent deceptive pass from Meryl Smith to send Rachel Phillips flying down the field. For the second try, Scotland had been trying to hold up Canada players through the match and here it paid off as Rachel Malcolm, Rhea Clarke and Evie Gallagher combined to strip the ball from Apps and then Clarke and Gallagher combined well before setting Shona Campbell free to score. The fourth was the pick of Scotland’s scores. There was pretty much no margin for error in Helen Nelson’s kick but she found the perfect square foot of pitch for Rhona Lloyd to glide on to and motor away for another try for her country. The one real negative was that Scotland had a pretty long passage where Canada were down to 14, and for a few minutes 13, players, and they didn’t demonstrate enough patience to take advantage of that passage and score more tries.
Evie Gallagher returns in style
One of the biggest pluses for Scotland was the return of their talismanic back row, who absolutely picked up where she had left off (mostly stealing balls from the bottom of the ruck). She was important to the team as ever. She was the match’s top carrier with 19 carries, Scotland’s top tackler with 16, she hit 36 rucks and was the only Scot with multiple turnovers. Opta noted that her combined carry/tackle/ruck involvement of 71 was the joint highest by any player in a single match across the three editions of WXV to date.
She could add a try and an assist to that total as well and the build up to her try showed how much of an impact she has for her team. She won a turnover and from the subsequent field position, she was responsible for a massive carry that got Scotland right up to close to the try line. A couple of her team mates put in carries and then she was right there again to show great strength and score.
Depth continues to grow
Injuries to the likes of Leia Brebner-Holden, Francesca McGhie and Lucia Scott left opportunities at scrum half and back three for Ceitidh Ainsworth and Katie Buchanan to make their debuts. Buchanan’s first involvement saw her confidently take a high ball and go straight into attacking mode and she looked lively and adept in both attack and defence. I am definitely excited to see more from her in the future.
Ainsworth’s involvement was particularly interesting. She has generally played stand-off for Stirling and Glasgow Warriors, but was tasked with coming off the bench at scrum half in the recent u21 Six Nations. This was her first time at senior level playing scrum half, which is quite an ask. But she looked quick to every ruck and hopefully Scotland can make use of the impressive game management and attacking vision she has shown at club level. She clearly inspired confidence in the coaches who have handed her a first start against the Black Ferns.
WXV Series still finding its feet
It’s not quite clear how much the WXV Series branding has caught the attention yet of most rugby fans, with things like broadcast and the series website well below the level of the W6N or the World Cup (although it was great that BBC Alba did have the Scotland match live on their channel). As a fan who attends matches, it definitely is preferable having these matches at home than the team flying away somewhere else.
The crowd for the match was an okay 2,721 – lower than W6N crowd levels, but probably Scotland’s biggest crowd at the Hive for a match outwith the Six Nations. It looks like it will be much closer to 4,000 for the visit of the Black Ferns, possibly due to a greater awareness of New Zealand as a rugby brand.
Part of the benefit of the WXV series is Scotland get to play the very top teams more often and at home. This is only Scotland’s fifth ever match against the Black Ferns and their first time playing them on home soil. If that wasn’t novel enough, it seems there is also a chance for a home player to make history by scoring Scotland’s first-ever try against the Black Ferns. Hopefully there will be much more frequent matches between the teams in the coming years and it will make that statistic even more absurd.
