Scotland women and the 14 month journey – the Wales week: Direct, physical and clinical second half makes it nine Test wins from 12 with plenty to build on

Gary Heatly

Scotland’s women made it nine wins in their last 12 Tests with a direct and physical second half showing at Hive Stadium on Friday evening that helped them come from behind to win the Vodafone Series match 40-14 versus Wales.

The clash in the capital was the first of two September matches on home turf before WXV 2 in South Africa, the second game being versus Fiji on September 14, and the hosts scored six tries in total.

The match report…

The hosts got on the front foot early on and had a few chances before they eventually took the lead in the 10th minute when No.8 Evie Gallagher powered over. The try was unconverted and it was 5-0.

Seven minutes later Wales got themselves level when a quick tap by captain Keira Bevan caught Scotland out and centre Meg Webb scored. Scrum-half Bevan converted and it was 7-5.

Wales then had a mini purple patch before the Scots took control of possession again before having a try disallowed after 32 minutes and the visitors were up at the break.

Scotland got off to the perfect start after half-time 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 winger Francesca McGhie who dived over to score. Stand-off Helen Nelson converted.

And, with Leia Brebner-Holden now on for a debut, Scotland scored try number three via full-back Chloe Rollie after 54 minutes. The conversion made it 19-7.

Try number four came just before the hour mark via centre Meryl Smith, Nelson’s conversion making it 26-7.

And when Rollie went over again and it was 33-7.

There was still time for Lucia Scott to make her debut, McGhie to bag a second try and Wales to get a consolation via replacement Nel Metcalfe.

What they said…

Scotland head coach Bryan Easson:  “We were quite happy with the first half – we just weren’t quite converting. They infringed quite a lot and that was frustrating and we were held up a couple of times.

“We were frustrated with them at the breakdown, but we said at half-time that dam would break. We stuck to our guns and I thought our kicking game in the second half in particular, and the patience to put them under continual pressure, was excellent.

“I think that allowed us to push forward and that’s how we cracked them.

“That’s the first time we’ve played international rugby since the end of April. You always look at the first game and think it’s going to be rusty and we did leave points out there, but in general we’re very pleased.”

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm:  “There was a huge amount of variety in how we attacked. We’ve had more of an attack focus over the last few weeks in pre-season and that’s something you saw here. We had options from all different areas of the pitch and everyone was putting their hand up.

“Wales are one of the best contact area teams to play against so you’ve got to be clinical. We gave away some penalties, but to be able to retain possession to that extent against a side like Wales shows our contact area has improved.

“We could have been more clinical in the first half, but we’re definitely on the right trajectory and I’m super pleased.”

Three things that caught the eye…

  • The breakdown/contact area work by back-row Alex Stewart and hooker Lana Skeldon to free the ball to centre Emma Orr right at the start of the second half which led to winger Francesca McGhie’s first try.
  • The impact that both debut players, Leia Brebner-Holden on at scrum-half and Lucia Scott at full-back, made off the bench. They came on with real intent and played with speed and confidence.
  • The pace Scotland can play at when they don’t try to force things, but work through the phases and find that space on the edge. First half at times was too frantic, but the second half was excellent.

What’s next…

As mentioned, Fiji are in town on September 14 and then Scotland will fly off to Cape Town on September 19 with WXV 2 running from late September until October with the team playing three matches.

Scotland women’s squad and scorers in the Vodafone Series clash with Wales

15 Chloe Rollie (Ealing Trailfinders) (two tries and player of the match)

14 Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers) (two tries)

13 Emma Orr (Bristol Bears)

12 Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears) (one try)

11 Coreen Grant (Saracens)

10 Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning, V-C) (five conversions)

9 Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs)

1 Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers)

2 Lana Skeldon (Bristol Bears)

3 Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning)

4 Fi McIntosh (Saracens)

5. Sarah Bonar (Harlequins)

6 Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning, C)

7 Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars)

8. Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears) (one try)

Subs all used

16 Elis Martin (Loughborough Lightning)

17 Anne Young (Loughborough Lightning)

18 Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears)

19 Louise McMillan (Saracens)

20 Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers)

21 Jade Konkel (Harlequins)

22 Leia Brebner-Holden (Gloucester-Hartpury/Cheltenham Tigers)

23 Lucia Scott (Gloucester-Hartpury/Hartpury University)

Captain Rachel Malcolm is pictured speaking to her players post match, thanks to Scottish Rugby/SNS for the image

GH Media will be covering Scotland women’s journey right through to Rugby World Cup 2025, bringing insight from within the camp throughout and featuring other parts of the game in this country too – thanks to those already supporting the content, if you or your company would like to get involved please email gary@gh-media.co.uk