Gary Heatly in Manchester
Captain Rachel Malcolm says that Scotland laid down a benchmark performance against Wales and they are now looking forward to their Women’s Rugby World Cup journey continuing.
The Scots put in a full 80-minute performance with no let up to defeat their old rivals 38-8 at the Salford Community Stadium in Manchester on Saturday.
The result now makes them favourites to progress to the quarter-finals from Pool B behind likely group winners Canada. That would mean a probable knock-out tie with world number one side England on September 14.
However, there is a lot of rugby to be played before then and next up is Fiji this coming Saturday in Manchester before a meeting with world number two Canada in Exeter on September 6.
Malcolm, the back-row who was captaining her side for the 50th time, said: “I think for me, on both sides of the ball, this was a great team performance.
“There was just a bit of an inevitability about what we were doing. It felt like when they had the ball we were always going to get it back and it felt like when we had the ball we were going to score, I thought we were really clinical.
“The belief that we showed and that confidence to put in an 80-minute performance is something that we’ve just been building towards.
“It’s been simmering in our camp and we’ve been talking about it and we’ve been talking about what we can achieve.
“In the lead up to the game we were not focused on Wales, we were focused on ourselves and what we know we can achieve and we showed that during the performance.”
And in terms of what the team can now achieve in the competition going forward, Malcolm, 34, added: “We are obviously pleased by the win, but we are not looking too far ahead at all.
“We need to think purely about the next game and that is Fiji next Saturday.
“I’ve probably never seen us that aggressive defensively as we were against Wales.
“It makes me really excited about where we can take things this tournament because today is our benchmark, let’s push things as far as we can now.”
- The victory over Wales has catapulted Scotland up to sixth in the newly amended world rankings.
They have moved up from eighth place and previously reached a record high of fifth late last year. Wales have dropped from nine to 10 with Scotland’s next opponents Fiji at 14.
Scotland Women’s Rugby World Cup squad
Forwards: Leah Bartlett, Becky Boyd, Sarah Bonar, Elliann Clarke, Lisa Cockburn, Eva Donaldson, Evie Gallagher, Adelle Ferrie, Jade Konkel, Rachel Malcolm (C), Elis Martin, Rachel McLachlan, Molly Poolman, Lana Skeldon, Alex Stewart, Emma Wassell, Molly Wright, Anne Young.
Backs: Leia Brebner-Holden, Beth Blacklock, Rhea Clarke, Coreen Grant, Rhona Lloyd, Caity Mattinson, Francesca McGhie, Helen Nelson, Emma Orr, Hannah Ramsay, Chloe Rollie, Lisa Thomson, Hannah Walker, Evie Wills.
Rachel Malcolm is pictured celebrating the win over Wales with Rachel McLachlan – thanks to Scottish Rugby
From August 7 until September 30, GH Media will be following the Scotland World Cup journey all of the way. We will be at all of the Scotland matches down south and will be bringing you all of the interviews and news from camp as well as taking a wider look at the tournament as a whole and its impact on the women’s game. Thanks to Quirky Chocolate and other supporters for allowing this content to happen and to readers for engaging with it.