Rugby – Scotland v Wales, Women’s Autumn Internationals

cotland had two Autumn
International lined up at home for their women with Wales and Japan.
The first of these was Sunday’s match against Wales, a match that
also marked the competitive debut of the new coaching set-up.

From the off, Scotland
pressed Wales hard in their half, keeping the vistors pinned and
preventing much progress. After a few minutes of that, the Welsh were
forced to kick to gain ground and escape.

However, Scotland were
penalised for ‘not straight’ at the subsequent lineout, putting the
Welsh on the front foot with a scrum. This early, packs’ encounter
would be a significant pointer to how dominant the Welsh forwards
were to be for the rest of the match.

A further scrum, won by
the Scots this time, was wasted as another error gave possesion back
to the visitors’ pack and lead to the opening try.

Just over 10 minutes in
a penalty award was kicked to within a few metres of the Scot’s line
and, ball won, the Welsh forwards steam-rolled their way to the try.
The conversion fell short, but 12 minutes in, it was 0-5 to Wales.

Wales then went on to
domiante the following 10 minutes and, although Scotland enjoyed
brief periods of possession, they were always on the defensive and
being pushed further and further back.

A series of penalties
and handling errors during this time did little to help the situation
and a second Welsh try was always hovering in the background.

And, just after 21
minutes, that background became the foreground as another attack by
Wales went to the boot and a neat cross-field kick from Lauren Smith
was gathered low by Lisa Neumann in the left-field tram lines and the
winger then managed to avoid a tracking Chloe Rollie and squirm over
for the second try. Once again, the kick fell short, but 0-10 was the
score after 22 minutes.

The next 10, or so
minutes, were far more evenly matched. Wales, probably still had the
edge, but Scotland were looking far more dangerous than at any time
before.

A clearing kick was
grabbed out of the air by, possibly the best player on the field –
when she had the ball – Rollie, and the full back made ground,
setting up the best attack of the half for the home side.

Play was advanced down
the right wing, before coming infield. A few phases later and Wales
were penalised at the ruck, giving a chance for points. Almost 40
metres out, the tee was called for and Helen Nelson lined up and her
fine strike saw the ball through the posts for 3-10 after 33 minutes.

The rest of the half
was then, once again, fairly evenly matched, but was still was played
more towards the Scotland end than was comfortable.

As the half drew to a
close, however, Wales were pounding away at the Scots defence and
winning penalties all along the line, one of which cost Emma Wassell
a yellow for incorrect entry to a maul.

Down to 14, Scotland
could do little to avoid the inevitable which came just on half time
via a penalty try to leave the half time score at 3-17 to the
visitors.

Starting the second
half still with 14 players, Scotland soon lost Megan Kennedy with a
serious leg injury, but a penalty and subsequent kick through, put
the home side in a dominant attacking position, deep in Welsh
territory.

However, it was all
snuffed out when a loose pass was intercepted, bringing the attack to
a close, but setting Wales up for more possession and territory.

A couple of Scottish
substitutions around the hour mark shook things up a bit and the
Scots put in their longest, and most dangerous looking, period of
attacking play – Rollie, once again, being a driving force.

However, no further
scoring was possible by either side and the Welsh ran out 3-17
winners of a match, in which, they were dominant in almost every
sphere.

Their pack should take
particular credit, as they had the Scots forwards under immense
pressure for the whole match, only losing a couple of their own
scrums due to errors on their part, with the majority of the rest
going to penalties after pushing their opponents all over the pitch.

Were they aided by
‘getting away with’ early pushing? There’s a vague possibility…
But, if that had been the case, then it was up to their opponents to
get up to speed and mitigate for that. But they didn’t, so fair play
to Wales. Excellent win.

Next up Japan…

Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.