It was always likely that the Rugby World Cup of 2021, a.k.a. the Women’s Rugby World Cup of 2022, would prove to be a rollercoaster ride for our Scottish squad, but not even the most inspired of dramaturges could have conceived of the ending of Scotland’s opening match against Wales.
I don’t know if the Scotland women’s squad had a communal greet after their heartbreaking loss to Wales at the weekend, but I’ll happily admit that I would have joined in because that result in Whangarei was emotionally devastating at the end of match that was a tremendous advert for rugby, and not just women’s rugby.
I don’t usually buy that one about Scotland always managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but sadly that is just what happened against Wales, especially after a the comeback inspired by Megan Gaffney that made the scores level at the 80 minute mark. It was what happened after the clock went red which will long live in the memory because it was so viscerally exciting, me screaming at the television as I willed our brave women to hold on just one more time.
It’s nitpicking, I know, but having watched the video replay several times, I am pretty sure that there was at least one forward pass by Wales in that astonishing 25 phase passage of play that led to Keira Bevan taking the opportunity to score that clinching penalty deep in stoppage time. You could argue that the Scots should have conceded a penalty early in the phases and forced Bevan to either kick from distance or kick to touch but in the end the Welsh women kept their discipline and control and earned the hard yards to make the job easier for Bevan – who don’t forget was on as a replacement and had not had a previous kick at goal.
She kept her nerve but I am afraid Scotland’s Helen Nelson showed a lack of confidence in her five kicks at goal including one penalty she would normally have kicked in her sleep. To misquote a golfing diktat, you can score tries for show but often in rugby you need to kick for dough and sadly that didn’t happen against Australia.
That lack of confidence showed throughout the team at the start of the match, allowing Wales to dominate and take a 10-0 lead. That slow start due, I think, to sheer nerves, is something head coach Bryan Eason and his team will need to work on before 3am our time on Saturday. The squad needs to pull together and take the confidence they acquired from scoring three tries against Wales into the game against Australia.
Though I always believe that the team which scores the most tries should win the match, had Bevan missed that final kick then a draw would have been a fair result, which would have left both Wales and Scotland needing to earn points against Australia and New Zealand. Some people have already written off Scotland’s chances of doing so, and being blunt neither Scotland or Wales have any chance of even a bonus point against the host nation. Wales, on the other hand, will fancy their chances of getting a bonus point or better against Australia, so in effect Saturday’s match is a must-win for Scotland if they want to stay in New Zealand. While it will be immensely difficult, I believe our women can pull off what would be the biggest shock of the tournament.
On paper, Australia are massive favourites, not least because they showed in the first half hour against New Zealand just what they could do with some amazing play that rocked the Black Ferns. To have a 17 point lead and then comprehensively blow it by shipping 41 points tells me that the Wallaroos can prove vulnerable, however.
They are a powerful side, with numerous big strong women throughout the squad, and I fully expect them to make this a power play contest with flying winger Bienne Terita as their markswoman. Scotland have our fair share of powerful women but Australia have a size advantage across the pitch. That’s why I would like to see Scotland play a clever game, running the angles and passing slickly as we know they can do.
If the Scottish defence can hold firm early doors and keep Terita out, then the Wallaroos’ confidence may start to crumble and Scotland will then get the opportunities which they must take every time. Australia are ranked 7th in the official World Rugby rankings while Scotland are ranked 10th, though the difference in ranking points between them is considerable. Nevertheless Scotland are in our favoured position as underdogs, and if they can produce the best of the play they showed against Wales and fix the goal kicking then an upset could happen.
