AN 84th-minute penalty from Wales’ Keira Bevan denied Scotland a share of the spoils in their first match at the Rugby World Cup finals for 12 years.
The Scots had fought back from a 15-5 half-time deficit to level at 15-15 with just seconds of regulation time remaining, but the Welsh broke the deadlock with a courageous display of attacking rugby from the restart to win 18-15.
Scotland won the try count 3-2 thanks to a score from Lana Skeldon and two by Megan Gaffney, but crucially, Helen Nelson missed all five of her kicks at goal.
