Women's Six Nations 2023: Scotland 22-34 Wales

BBC

01 April 2023

Wales once again broke Scottish hearts after edging a breathless Six Nations encounter in Edinburgh.

The visitors, who led from the third minute, saw props Sisilia Tuipulotu and Gwenllian Pyrs both cross twice, with Ffion Lewis adding a late fifth.

Scotland showed plenty of fight with tries from Lana Skeldon, Coreen Grant and Chloe Rollie.

But defeat extends their losing streak to 11 games, while Wales can celebrate two wins from two in the championship.

It echoes their start to last year's campaign when they beat the same opposition.

Wales talked about "storming the castle" in the build-up to the game, and it took just three minutes for them to breach the Scottish defence.

A superb Keira Bevan break on her 50th cap sparked a Welsh attack which saw Scotland concede a penalty for offside.

After Wales kicked to touch Scotland expected the visitors' trademark catch and drive, but they opted for an unorthodox training ground move instead.

Georgia Evans took the ball cleanly before offloading to player of the match Tuipulotu, who peeled around the front before bulldozing over for her second try in as many games.

Scotland enjoyed a spell of pressure after the restart and looked dangerous in the wide channels, but Wales defended resolutely before finding themselves back in the Scotland 22.

They won a scrum penalty and kicked for touch, this time choosing to drive for the line, with Sioned Harries crossing from close range.

The conversion was being lined up when referee Maggie Cogger-Orr called play back, and after a lengthy deliberation with television match official Leo Colgan, Harries was deemed to be offside.

Scotland then took advantage of poor Welsh discipline, with Helen Nelson kicking a penalty to get the hosts on the board.

Wales hit straight back from the restart, Kelsey Jones powering through two tackles before finding Elinor Snowsill who fed inside to Harries, who made good yards before offloading to Bevan who was brought down short of the line.

Wales showed patience and Pyrs powered over to extend Wales' lead, with Bevan on target from the tee.

But the visitors were soon back under the cosh and walked a fine line with their discipline, coughing up penalty after penalty despite being on a warning.

Scotland decided to turn down another attempt at three points, with their driving line-out setting up Skeldon's try, her third in three consecutive games against Wales.

Rallied by the 3,000-strong home crowd, the Scots came close to crossing again, Francesca McGhie with a dazzling run before being chopped down with a last-ditch tackle.

Wales' luck eventually ran out with centre Kerin Lake shown a yellow card for offside. Scotland pushed for a try before half-time, but could not find the overlap and Wales survived.

Wales started the second half positively, a charge down by Hannah Jones saw them steal possession and use their powerful forwards to go through the phases before Pyrs crossed for her second.

Bevan added the extras to give Wales a two-score lead.

Scotland looked to strike back straight away with Wales once again penalised when Snowsill's high tackle gifted the hosts a driving line-out.

Wales initially kept them out, but Scotland used their player advantage and found a hole in the defence with Grant coming off her wing to cross under the posts to give Nelson an straight-forward conversion.

Momentum was soon back with Wales, their big ball carriers barnstorming their way into Scotland's 22, and nothing could be done to stop the raw power of teenager Tuipulotu once the line was in her sight.

The game continued to hang in the balance as both sides began to introduce their impact players, and it was Scotland who came again, their exciting full-back Rollie showing lightning feet and speed to get on the outside of Lisa Neumann and step Courtney Keight before dotting down.

Nelson's conversion drifted across the face of the posts as Wales retained a slender lead.

The visitors hit back in the final 10 minutes and it was route one again, the forwards edging their way to the try line before Scotland conceded a penalty, which Snowsill slotted over to steady the ship.

Wales showed good game management in the closing stages, and it was replacement scrum-half Lewis who came back to haunt the Scots again, crossing for the visitors' fifth try in the dying minutes, just as she did in Cardiff last year.

Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm said: "That was proper Test match, but I'm disappointed because we were totally in it.

"I couldn't ask for more from the girls. The way we stepped up defensively in the second half was massive step forward.

"There were some key battles in today's game, set-pieces didn't go our way. If we sorted our maul out a bit earlier we probably would have been comfortably ahead of them, but that's something we need to look at."

Wales captain Hannah Jones said: "Our front five were absolutely outstanding again, Sisilia brining momentum, and those carries really help us as a backline, having front foot ball is amazing.

"Keep momentum, keep on top and keep working hard was the key message we had off Ioan [Cunningham] all week.

"We will re-group and recover now, we have got some work-ons from this game ready to go into the next game."

Scotland: C Rollie, C Grant, E Orr, M Smith, F McGhie, H Nelson, C Mattinson; L Bartlett, L Skeldon, C Belisle, L O'Donnell, L McMillan, R Malcolm, R McLachlan, E Gallagher.

Replacements: J Rettie, A Young, E Clarke, E Donaldson, E Sinclair, M McDonald, B Blacklock, L Musgrove.

Wales: C Keight; L Neumann, H Jones (capt), K Lake, C Williams-Morris; E Snowsill, K Bevan; G Pyrs, K Jones, S Tuipulotu, A Fleming, G Evans, B Lewis, A Callender, S Harries.

Replacements: C Phillips, C Hope, C Hale, N John, K Williams, F Lewis, R Wilkins, H Bluck.