by John Preece
Scotland’s women faced Ireland’s women at Lasswade Rugby club at the weekend, off the back of two heavy defeats from France and Wales. Fairly decent weather, for a change saw 50 times capped Heather Lockhart lead the team onto the pitch, for what turned out to be an entertaining game from two fairly evenly matched sides. Ireland, however, opened the scoring after 6 minutes with a try from Lynne Cantwell, following a concerted period of attacking play which saw Scotland pinned back in their 22.
A fine attacking move from Scotland, following a sustained period of possession saw Scotland winger, Lauren Harris, ground the ball in the corner to bring the scores level at 5-5. Scrum half, Louise Dalgleish just missing the conversion. Scotland then continued to force Ireland back into their own half, from a combination of forward play, kicks and strong defence, to keep the score level at the break.
The second half continued at the same pace as the first left off, but Ireland managed to put centre Geraldine Rea over for their second try of the day after 50 minutes of play. Scotland came strongly back at Ireland, but a couple of Scottish substitutions and a yellow card for Ireland seemed to fire up the Green team and Niamh Briggs scored a third try for Ireland on the 66th minute.
With the pace of the game continuing, and both sides having chances, a flurry of subs 5 minutes from time (4 for Scotland, 5 for Ireland) appeared to upset the home team slightly more, and Ireland scored the final, and only converted, try, to round out the game Scotland 5, Ireland 22.
This was a greatly improved performance from the young Scottish side, with the final score, again, not reflecting the performance and will, hopefully, bode well for the future.
England next, however…
Photo (Lauren Harris scoring for Scotland) – John Preece
Gallery – http://www.jlp-photography.co.uk/International-Sporting-Events
