The Hive, Edinburgh
Alisha Butchers ran out first to mark her 50th cap. She and her team were unrecognisable in their new alternate strip of white and light green.
Nor did they start as they intended; Scotland soon dominated proceedings. Lana Skeldon took advantage of a huge gap in midfield to gallop many metres. The visitors showed an old weakness, conceding a sequence of penalties that left them defending inside their 5-metre zone. But Scotland were held up over the line. It wasn’t to be the last time.
An exciting passage of play saw the Scottish backs run challenging lines, but were stopped. Then Keira Bevan intercepted a pass, broke clear, Rollie chased back, and Bevan kicked straight into touch.
More excitement as Francesca McGhie made a break down the left and chipped ahead. The ball bounced off an opponent into Chloe Rollie’s hands and she was just caught in time.
On ten minutes Scotland got the try they deserved. Evie Gallagher made two thrusts for the line in quick succession, the second did the trick. 5-0
At last the Welsh put together a threatening move, but an inaccurate link at half-back undid the good work. This was to be a concerning feature of the visitors’ game: very simple actions were not executed accurately, pass, kick… the elements that really should be in place.
Enough of complaints; now Bevan showed herself at her best. She knew a penalty was coming her way. The moment that Aurélie Groizeleau blew, she tapped and was away. She was just held by a covering tackle, but the ball whistled out right for Megan Webb to cross unmarked. Bevan’s conversion brought a lead that lasted till the break. 5-7
Jenny Hesketh was nearly away for a second try, but she was just hauled in.
The tricky question was: how come the Scots were still behind? They’d had the lion’s share of possession.
Half-time 5-7
We got our answer after the turn-round. Cymru wilted in the face of a storm of tries that reminded us of their bad days of the recent past. The Scots were moving the ball more directly to their wide backs, creating more space than is acceptable at this level.
From halfway between Scotland’s 10m and 22m lines Wales lost possession, Skeldon fed Emma Orr who looked up and poked a long grubber through. McGhie easily outpaced the retreating Robyn Wilkins. 12-7
On 50 minutes Scotland built a long menacing attack. As the ball spread wide left, McGhie dropped a final pass as the line gaped. Ah me! But moments later Rollie slalomed her way over. 19-7
Meryl Smith added another as the Welsh couldn’t keep hold of the ball long enough. 26-7
What a moment for Jade Konkel to come on, her first appearance in a year! Now a clever chip by Smith bounced into Rollie’s hands. It needed only three changes of direction for her second try. 33-7
Another careless pass allowed Leia Brebner-Holden to regain possession, and once more Helen Nelson pumped a long ground-eater into the far 22. The Welsh offended again, and clever realignments put the ball into McGhie’s hands. 40-7
As the game drew to a close, the Welsh found their touch again. Lleucu George sent a searching diagonal into the left corner. As it came back, the threes created space for Nel Metcalfe to add to that lonely-looking try back in the 16th minute. Bevan sent over another fine kick, but that was small relief for her in her first game as captain.
Result: Scotland 40 Cymru 14
Player of the Match: Chloe Rollie
Teams
Scotland
15 Chloe Rollie 14 Coreen Grant 13 Emma Orr 12 Meryl Smith 11 Francesca McGhie 10 Helen Nelson 9 Mairi McDonald 1 Leah Bartlett 2 Lana Skeldon 3 Christine Belisle 4 Fi McIntosh 5 Sarah Bonar 6 Rachel Malcolm (captain) 7 Alex Stewart 8 Evie Gallagher
16 Elis Martin 17 Anne Young 18 Elliann Clarke 19 Louise McMillan 20 Eva Donaldson 21 Jade Konkel 22 *Leia Brebner-Holden 23 *Lucia Scott
*uncapped
Wales
15 Jenny Hesketh, 14 Catherine Richards, 13 Meg Webb, 12 Kerin Lake, 11 Jasmine Joyce, 10 Robyn Wilkins, 9 Keira Bevan (captain), 1 Gwenllian Pyrs, 2 Molly Reardon, 3 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 4 Natalia John, 5 Gwen Crabb, 6 Kate Williams, 7 Bethan Lewis, 8 Gwennan Hopkins
16 *Rosie Carr, 17 *Maisie Davies, 18 Donna Rose, 19 *Alaw Pyrs, 20 Alisha Butchers, 21 Sian Jones, 22 Lleucu George, 23 Nel Metcalfe
*uncapped
Afterthoughts
Bryan Easson will be far more pleased with his charges than Ioan Cunningham with his. I’m still not convinced by the quality of the Welsh coaching team. At least it was reassuring to see Hannah Jones as water-girl in a track-suit.
Lesson learned: Don’t use the term “warm-up match” in front of a coach. There’s no such thing. It’s white heat, hammer and tongs.
Coming “non-warm-ups”: Scotland meet Fijiana for the first time on 14 September at the Hive, and Wales play Australia at the Arms Park six days later.
The two nations’ WXV2 fixtures:
Wales
28 September v Australia
4 October v Italy
11 October v Japan
Scotland
28 September v Italy
5 October v Japan
12 October v Australia
I’ve mentioned elsewhere the extreme oddity of these pairings. Unlike WXV1, 6N teams find themselves playing each other, yet there are three European nations and three non-European involved.
