Scotland earned back-to-back wins for the first time in 17 years to finish fourth in the women’s Six Nations Championship thanks to a 36-10 win over pointless Ireland at the Dam Stadium.
Meryl Smith, Lana Skeldon, Leah Bartlett, Rachel Malcolm, Fran McGhie and Chloe Rollie scored tries for the home side who celebrated a Scotland’s highest Six Nations finish since 2017.
The position earns a place in the second tier of the inaugural WXV tournament later this year and Ireland will go in the third tier.
Ireland held the fired-up Scots in the first half despite the home side being cheered on by a record Scottish crowd of 4,000 and the win backs up the success over Italy at the same venue seven days previously.
Scotland coach Bryan Easson told BBC Scotland Sport that his side were relentless in the second half.
He added: “We had a couple of chances before half-time but we gave the ball away too cheaply. Second half we squeezed them and they broke and I was really pleased with that second-half performance.”
PICTURE: Joy for Scotland by Ian Jacobs
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
