Gary Heatly at Ashton Gate
Scotland 8 England 40
England’s power game was far too much for Scotland to deal with as Bryan Easson’s time as head coach came to an end with a 40-8 defeat in the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final at Ashton Gate in Bristol on Sunday in front of a crowd of 25, 295.
Scotland started with great intent and after four minutes they took a 3-0 lead thanks to a penalty by stand-off Helen Nelson.
The defence of Scotland was also strong in the first 10 minutes and it was forcing England into some uncharacteristic handling errors.
However, in the 12th minute they put some good phases together and, eventually, loosehead prop Kelsey Clifford powered over the tryline with stand-off Holly Aitchison converting for 7-3.
The Scottish lineout was struggling in the wet weather and, a mistake there in the 16th minute, saw second-row Morwenna Talling go over for England’s second try converted by Aitchison.
England were looking to turn the screw and their scrum was starting to get some joy, but by the 25-minute mark the score was still 14-3.
In the 27th minute, England thought they had scored a third try via hooker Amy Cockayne following a lineout drive, but it was chalked off by referee Aurélie Groizeleau for an obstruction in the build up.
In the 32nd minute the tournament hosts did score try number three through winger Abby Dow although the scoring pass from Aitchison looked forward. It was not converted and it was 19-3.
A killer blow for the Scots came just before half-time when England bagged their fourth try, Clifford going over for her second with Aitchison converting to make it 26-3 at the interval.
Soon after the break, Dow charged down a clearance kick by Lisa Thomson and, but for a great tackle by her centre partner Emma Orr, England might have scored again.
Their fifth try did come in the 46th minute when Cockayne scored and Aitchison converted for 33-3.
Jade Konkel, the Scotland No.8, then left the field for the last time after announcing her international retirement on Thursday and, after 74 caps, was embraced by Donna Kennedy (115 caps) in the stand.
As much as they tried Scotland could not fire a shot in attack and, after a disallowed England try, with 15 minutes do go Aitchison scored England’s sixth try and converted it to make it 40-3.
At the death, winger Rhona Lloyd scored an unconverted try to show Scotland’s battling spirit.
- In the other Sunday quarter-final, France defeated Ireland 18-13 in Exeter.
Scotland: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Leah Bartlett, Lana Skeldon, Christine Belisle, Emma Wassell, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Evie Gallagher, Jade Konkel. Subs: Elis Martin, Molly Wright, Molly Poolman, Eva Donaldson, Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Caity Mattinson, Evie Wills.
England: Helena Rowland; Abby Dow, Megan Jones, Tatyana Heard, Jess Breach; Holly Aitchison, Natasha Hunt; Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cockayne, Maud Muir, Morwenna Talling, Rosie Galligan, Zoe Aldcroft (C), Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews. Subs: Lark Atkin-Davies, Mackenzie Carson, Sarah Bern, Abbie Ward, Maddie Feunati, Lucy Packer, Zoe Harrison, Emma Sing.
Scorers:
Scotland: Try: Lloyd. Penalty: Nelson.
England: Tries: Clifford 2, Talling, Dow, Cockayne, Aitchison. Conversions: Aitchison 5.
Referee: Aurélie Groizeleau.
Player of the match: Morwenna Talling (England).
Scotland-England is pictured
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.