During the four-week pre-season block and in the lead up to last Friday’s opening Vodafone Series match with Wales, members of the Scotland squad and coaching set up had talked a lot about trying to develop an edge in attack.
During the Guinness Women’s Six Nations earlier in the year Scotland created quite a lot of chances – or got into the opposition ‘gold zone’ or ‘22’ to you or I – but at times failed to be clinical enough to take them.
It was a similar story in the first half versus Wales at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh and, despite lots of possession, the hosts were 7-5 down at the interval.
However, in the second half they came out with renewed energy and clarity in attack and really did put Wales to the sword, scoring five more tries and five conversions to give them a 40-14 triumph.
Two of the tries came from 21-year-old Leicester Tigers’ winger Francesca McGhie and she is just one of the many threats Scotland have in the backline when they play direct, create chances on the edge and are clinical.
McGhie now has five tries for her country in 13 caps and she said: “We want to be a clinical team and that is something we pride ourselves on, we don’t want to let things slip when we are on top of games and we didn’t do that against Wales.
“There were some mistakes, but we picked ourselves up from them and we made sure we got out of that game what we wanted.
“As I say, we made mistakes, but we didn’t let them go to our heads and we just capitalised on their mistakes too and that was the best outcome we could have had from the first game of the season.
“We played our little hearts out really and enjoyed every second of it which is really what playing for Scotland is all about.
“I think we knew that Wales are a tough opponent, we never go in thinking it is going to be an easy game or underestimating then and we certainly didn’t.
“It was a tough first half, but there was no panic and going into the half-time break everybody knew where we needed to be and what we needed to do in the second half to improve.
“We talked about a few things at half-time and managed to fix a few small things and bigger things and we got better after the break.
“We really had to work hard for all of those points and we worked as a team and it really was a fun game.”
McGhie’s first try came straight after the interval when, after back-row Alex Stewart and hooker Lana Skeldon teamed up to win a turnover, a kick ahead by centre Emma Orr was hacked on by her and she then dived over to score.
“The rugby ball never seems to bounce in the direction that you want it to, but that one just about did and I was definitely happy to dive on it and dot it down it is always a pleasure scoring tries for Scotland,” McGhie added.
“Looking ahead to this weekend, we have never played Fiji before and I think it is going to be an exciting Test match.
“Every week we go into games thinking about ourselves and how we want to come out feeling at the final whistle and we have things we need to work on this week, we have things we want to work on this week and I think we are just excited to get back out on the pitch come Saturday.”
Scotland women’s squad for the Vodafone Series and WXV 2 (uncapped in bold plus Louise McMillan (Saracens) in for the Vodafone Series)
Forwards
Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers)
Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning)
Sarah Bonar (Harlequins)
Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears)
Lisa Cockburn (Gloucester Hartpury)
Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers)
Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears)
Jade Konkel (Harlequins)
Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning)
Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning)
Fiona McIntosh (Saracens)
Rachel McLachlan (Montpellier)
Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears)
Aila Ronald (University of Edinburgh)
Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars)
Emma Wassell (Loughborough Lightning)
Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning)
Backs
Leia Brebner-Holden (Gloucester-Hartpury/Cheltenham Tigers)
Coreen Grant (Saracens)
Caity Mattinson (Ealing Trailfinders)
Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs)
Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers)
Rhona Lloyd (GB 7s/ Stade Bordelais)
Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning)
Emma Orr (Bristol Bears)
Rachel Philipps (Sale Sharks)
Lisa Thomson (GB 7s/Ealing Trailfinders)
Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders)
Lucia Scott (Hartpury University/Gloucester Hartpury)
Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears)
Thanks to N50 Photography for the image of Francesca McGhie scoring versus Wales
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