Seven tries for England sink Scots hopes.
Scotstoun was the venue for the 2018 Women’s Six Nations match between Scotland and England, with England going into the match overwhelming favourites, but Scotland had high hopes of giving them more than the proverbial speed-bump to negotiate
Three minutes in and those hopes appeared to be dashed as Danielle Waterman received a pass inside the 22 which put her through a gap in the Scottish line and in under the posts. Katy Daley-McLean then converted for 7-0.
Five minutes later, following relentless pressure, it was the turn of prop, Sarah Bern to cross the line in a repeat move of the first try, neatly side-stepping her opponent on the way to the line. Daley-McLean converted again for 14-0 before 10 minutes of the match had passed.
Then it was Scotland’s turn to press. Turn over ball gave them the break they needed and they pushed up into England’s 22 with some fine attacking play. They were eventually stopped, but the referee was playing advantage, so came back for a penalty which Sarah Law saw over for 14-3 just before 15 minutes.
The next few minutes were fairly even, but England couldn’t make the progress they had before and were coming under increasing pressure at the breakdown, with Scotland having the upper hand whenever a maul formed. However, it was a missed pass that gave the home side the chance to score their try. Lisa Thomson was quickly on a dropped ball and hacked through, deep into English territory. As she bore down on Ellie Kildunne at full back, the English player fumbled the pick up and the Scots were on her case immediately. As the pack arrived, they set up a rolling maul and heaved the English backwards, allowing Jade Konkell to touch down for the try. The touchline conversion was missed, but it was now 14-8 with just over 15 minutes left in the half.
It was a short lived celebration as England returned Scotland’s clearing kick from the restart and put wing Charlotte Pearce down the line from close in for their third try, converted try and 21-8.
Scotland then enjoyed their best period of the match.
Turning ball over, they hammered their way up-field and set up camp around the English five-metre line, rucking and mauling their opponents back and forth, but not quite having enough firepower to break through. A break did occur as England lost a player to the bin for persistent infringements, but despite coming within centimetres of scoring, the whole episode ended with a collapsed maul and an English scrum.
The running and passing game then reappeared for the remainder of the half with both sides pressing, but it was England who won that particular battle, sending Kildunne over in the left corner, despite being a player down, just before the break for a half time lead of 26-8.
Scotland pressurised the English defence for the first few minutes of the second half, but made little progress and England came away from the first 10 minutes of play with their fifth try, Pearce scoring her second with a powerful, tackle breaking run into the corner for 31-8.
England were now beginning to power ahead and a sustained period of fine running and passing play lead to their sixth try of the match as Scotland were down to 14 following Siobhan McMillan’s crazy take out in the air, England having suffered their second yellow a few minutes earlier. With gaps all over the place, centre, Lagi Tuima, sailed through one of them from nigh-on half way to score under the posts. Daley-McLean then got back on the score sheets with her conversion and 38-8 after 63 minutes.
Five minutes later, Waterman crossed for her second try with another long range run in and 43-8.
Scotland were now continually under pressure and couldn’t make any great headway against their opponents and almost lost their eighth try just on full time, but Pearce’s gallop down the line was ended by a superb tackle into touch a metre or so short, and a quick TMO decision bringing the match to a close.
Despite the score line, England didn’t have things all their own way, with their defence coming under severe pressure, especially at ruck and maul, at times from a much improved, from recent years, Scottish side, but they are not, currently, the best team in the World – New Zealand might dispute that – for nothing and, when it mattered, they came up with the goods to seal a fine win.
Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.
