Scotland carved out a piece of rugby history as they defeated Wales away from home in the Women’s Six Nations for the first time since 2004. In a dominant display they took back the bragging rights in the rivalry and it has been a long time coming, with Scotland last beating Wales in the competition in 2021.
A late missed conversion from Wales’s back-up kicker, Lleucu George – which would have levelled the scores – handed them the win. Not only did this mean a slice of Women’s Six Nations history but the victory was Scotland’s seventh in succession across all competitions. They have never won that many consecutive games before.
“It is a historic victory and it is deserved,” the Scotland head coach, Bryan Easson, told the BBC. “First half we felt we didn’t take the chances that we had. The second half, after we spoke at half-time, we were comfortable but we had more in us. We had to squeeze more out of ourselves and we did. They deserved that victory today.
“Seven wins in a row for this group is phenomenal, it has never happened before for Scotland women and this group is special.”
On an equal parts sunny and windy Saturday afternoon in Cardiff, many would have been expecting Wales to start their campaign with a win. Even Scotland’s captain, Rachel Malcolm, had tipped her opponents as favourites in the buildup. In the early stages it seemed they were living up to the tag as the prop Sisilia Tuipulotu carried well and her scintillating form drew the Scotland defence to give away a breakdown penalty.
Scrum-half Keira Bevan, the player to break Scottish hearts with a last-minute penalty at the Rugby World Cup two years ago, was on kicking duties and scored the first points. The first blood may have been drawn by Wales but Scotland were quick to throw a punch of their own. The visitors executed a perfect lineout and put a training move into action. Fast hands saw the ball find the wing and player of the match, Coreen Grant, her lightning feet beating several defenders to score. The try built momentum and Helen Nelson kicked a penalty to extend the lead.
Scotland had the upper hand but started to become their own worst enemies with the lineout failing and handling errors halting try opportunities. The tide began to turn in Wales’s favour with a scrum penalty, followed up by good work from Alex Callender at the breakdown and it gave Wales a promising attacking position. Scotland smothered every strike from the Welsh pincer but not completely cleanly, so a Bevan penalty kick bookended a tight half with Scotland holding a 10-6 lead at the break.
France opened their Six Nations campaign with an entertaining victory at Stade Marie-Marvingt. Last year’s runners-up struck early in the game and were initially kept at bay by a strong Ireland defence, but they were able to pull ahead with three comfortable tries before the visitors fought back to go over twice in the final 10 minutes.
Pauline Bourdon Sansus handed France the lead after three minutes, breaking free from the scrum to cross just next to a post with Lina Queyroi adding the conversion before Nicole Fowley put Ireland’s first points on the board with a penalty.
Although France threatened throughout the half, the Ireland defence put in a brilliant display to fend off waves of attacks, but the hosts scored their second try in the 32nd minute. Bourdon Sansus dispatched a great pass from the scrum to Marine Ménager and she burst through a gap in the defence to easily touch down and Queyroi added the extras.
The fly-half extended France’s lead with a penalty just before the break and they earned a third try seven minutes into the second half after pressure on the Ireland tryline saw Madoussou Fall finish the move to go over underneath the posts and Queyroi converted.
France then had a try chalked off for a forward pass in the buildup, but they secured the bonus point in the 62nd minute with a rolling maul allowing Agathe Sochat to cross and Queyroi added another conversion.
Ireland scored their first try in the 71st minute after Aoife Wafer powered over the line from close range and Dannah O’Brien converted. However France added a fifth try four minutes later when Elisa Riffonneau broke away from the maul to score with Morgane Bourgeois kicking the extras.
The visitors earned a second try in the final minutes when an awkward bounce led to Lina Tuy mishandling the ball on the tryline and Aoife Dalton reacted quickly to ground the ball to score a try that O’Brien converted. PA Media
The visitors then created a beautiful passage of play to begin the second half. Emma Orr ran a line to cut out multiple Welsh defenders and offloaded to Rhona Lloyd. The 27-year-old Lloyd had a lot of work to do but hurdled her way to the line.
Scotland could not build on the momentum as they started to give away a multitude of penalties. Wales kept peppering the Scottish defensive line and eventually Tuipulotu crossed the tryline to put Wales within a score. Scotland were dealt more blows with the hooker Lana Skeldon and lock Sarah Bonar going down with injury.
In the final quarter, momentum continued to swing back and forth, and despite the game hanging in the balance Scotland kicked to the corner instead of for the posts. After failing to cross the line, when Wales gave away another penalty Easson was shown saying “posts, posts, posts” in his mic to his touchline colleagues. The team duly obliged and Nelson landed the kick.
The penalty silenced the crowd for a moment before they came roaring to life as Wales set off again on the attack. They set up a rolling maul which was brought down illegally and Alex Stewart was sent to the sin-bin.
Once more, a wall of noise surrounded the action and after a few phases Callender scored. The try closed the gap to two points and with Bevan off the pitch, the conversion fell to fly-half George. She lined it up, took her time and swung a boot, but the flags stayed down to give Scotland a famous victory.
The result could be crucial come the end of the tournament. France and England have both qualified for next year’s World Cup and so the next-best finisher will qualify. Wales are targeting another third-place finish but Scotland’s win has put a cat among the pigeons.
