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.
Wales, who had two players yellow-carded as they defended desperately for much of the second half, were on target with three of their four kicks.
“I am heartbroken at the minute,” Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm said after the match at Whangarei’s Northland Events Centre. “The way we fought back into the game shows the character that we have within this team.
“We are so passionate about performing for our country and it just shows the effect of not taking points when we had pressure earlier in the game. We needed to start better, but I have no doubt with the girls that I have got in my squad that they pick themselves up tomorrow and we’ll come into training and give it our absolute all to try and get a result next week.”
Scotland next play Australia on Saturday knowing they will almost certainly need a win if they are to finish in the top three in Pool A and thus have a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
If they do that, the losing bonus point they picked up here could come into play. If they lose, their only remaining hope – and it is an exceedingly faint one – will be to rack up a big win against hosts and holders New Zealand in their last pool game seven days later.
And to have any chance in either game, Malcolm and her team-mates will have to be far more switched on right from the kick-off. Sluggish starts have been a problem for them from time to time over the past couple of years, and they were certainly an issue here as Wales took charge of the first half.
Alisha Butchers got their first try following a line-out maul after six minutes, and player of the match Elinor Snowsill converted then soon added a penalty. Scotland were far more assertive later on in the half, and opened their account when Skeldon finished off from a line-out drive.
A 10-5 deficit was not too bad a return given the pressure the Scots had been under, but that became 15-5 shortly before the break when Kayleigh Powell finished off on the overlap after a good off-load. Caity Mattinson stopped the situation from worsening further early in the second half with a try-saving tackle on Jasmine Joyce, and Scotland then became dominant.
Gaffney’s first try came not long after a long stoppage for on-field treatment of replacement Eilidh Sinclair, who had injured an arm, and immediately after Cara Hope became the first Welsh woman to be sin-binned.
Jade Konkel-Roberts launched an attack from the base of a scrum, and the left-winger finished off in the corner.
Gaffney’s second was very similar, this time following the yellow card shown to Joyce for a deliberate knock-on just after Hope’s return. Nelson’s conversion would have put her team ahead for the first time in the game, but another miss breathed fresh hope into the Welsh side, who duly seized possession from the re-start and embarked on the drive that produced the winning score when Scotland strayed offside.
Scorers:
Wales: Tries: Butchers, Powell. Con: Snowsill. Pens: Snowsill, Bevan.
Scotland: Tries: Skeldon, Gaffney 2.
Yellow cards: Wales: Hope 65, Joyce 77.
Wales: K Powell; J Joyce, M Webb, H Jones (captain), L Neumann (C Thomas 65); E Snowsill (R Wilkins 76), F Lewis (K Bevan 52); C Hope, C Phillips (K Jones 63), D Rose (C Hale 55), N John, G Evans (S Lillicrap 55), A Butchers (B Lewis 69), A Callender, S Harries.
Scotland: C Rollie; R Lloyd, H Smith, L Thomson, M Gaffney; H Nelson, C Mattinson; M Wright (L Bartlett 64), L Skeldon, C Belisle, E Wassell, S Bonar, R Malcolm (captain), L McMillan (E Sinclair 47, J Rettie 63), Konkel-Roberts.
Referee: C Munarini (Italy).
