On Saturday Scotland were in Leicester taking on the world number one and Grand Slam chasing England Red Roses at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in round four of Guinness Women’s Six Nations action.
They found themselves 42-0 down at the break and were in for a hiding, but they rallied a bit in the second period and a try from centre Lisa Thomson came along with a conversion from stand-off Nelson as it finished 59-7.
Highlights and details can be found here.
Here are five talking points from the game…
The first half was a tough watch
It was always going to be mission impossible in Leicester for Scotland, but in the first half England were totally in control and scored six converted tries and it could have been more.
The players rallied in the second half
The score in the second half was 17-7 and although the damage had been done in the first 40 minutes at least Scotland restored a bit of pride, took the game to England at times and forced them to make some errors.
Good to see three more debuts
Scrum-half Rha Clarke is now Scotland cap 245, back-row Gemma Bell is cap 246 and Rachel Philipps, a centre, is now cap 247 after they all came on in the second half on this one. The squad depth is growing and to see Rhea Clarke joining her sister Elliann on the pitch was special.
Evie Gallagher so important
Nine carries and 14 tackles here once again showed why the back-rower is one of the first names on the teamsheet and Scotland need her to have another big game against Ireland on April 26.
Scots must look at Ireland game as a ‘one off’ cup final
It has been a very mixed bag for Scotland so far in this tournament while Ireland have improved so they must ‘park’ what has gone on before and just concentrate solely on Ireland right now and treat it as a ‘one off’ cup final. Given the way things have gone in recent weeks Scotland will be underdogs, but have it in them to rise to the occasion.
- Elsewhere in round four, France came from behind to defeat Italy 34-21 in Parma while, on Sunday, Ireland went to Newport and won 40-14 versus Wales.
These bonus point wins for them and England means the latter are top, France are second and Ireland are third.
On ‘Super Saturday’ on April 26, Italy play Wales, Scotland host Ireland and England and France square off for the title.
- Scotland finished their under-18 Women’s Six Nations Festival at Wellington College down south with a 24-5 loss to Italy on Saturday.
More info here.
- On Saturday in clubland at Murrayfield, Watsonians won the women’s Sarah Beaney Cup final 39-38 against Hillhead Jordanhill.
Wigtownshire defeated Greenock Wanderers 37-17 to lift the women’s National Shield at the same stadium with Annan beating Garioch’s second team 39-24 to collect the women’s National Plate at Hive Stadium.
Scotland squad that played England: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson (C), Caity Mattinson; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Becky Boyd, Sarah Bonar, Evie Gallagher, Rachel McLachlan, Jade Konkel. Subs: Elis Martin, Leah Bartlett, Molly Poolman, Adelle Ferrie, Gemma Bell, Rhea Clarke, Rachel Philipps, Lucia Scott.
The Guinness Women’s Six Nations runs from March 22 to April 26 and, next up at home, Scotland are at Hive Stadium in round five versus Ireland on the final day – get tickets here.
England are pictured on the attack against Scotland on Saturday – thanks to Six Nations
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