Player comparisons: Canada forwards dominate v Scotland

Defensively tested from the off, Scotland can be proud of their afternoon’s work at Sandy Park despite Canada coming away with a comfortable 40-19 victory to secure them top spot in pool B.

The Scots survived wave after wave of Canadian offloads and phases of attack, with the women in red depending heavily on their forwards to get them over the line.

Scotland managed to tame Canada well in many instances but ultimately Canada’s rampant forwards proved too strong.

Prop McKinley Hunt charged over from close range within the first ten minutes, but Scotland weren’t here to play to the rule book and replied with a try through Rhona Lloyd on the edge after some brilliant hands.

However, this was the highlight of the half from a Scottish perspective as a yellow card to Evie Gallagher saw a penalty try for Canada on the 30 minute mark, followed by a great team try finished off by hooker Emily Tuttosi stretching over to put Canada 19-5 ahead going into half-time.

Throughout the second half Canada managed to stay in front but were never safe from Scottish opportunism with fantastic individual scores from Evie Gallagher and Francesca McGhie.

Sandwiched in between the scores from Scotland saw player of the match Tuttosi and Brittany Kassil dot down with replacement prop Olivia DeMerchant crashing over from close range to take the game out of reach for Scotland.

Front row: Advantage Canada
It was try time for the front rowers. Hunt and Tuttosi both found their way to the try line, the latter twice with a hard run off the back of a line out. DaLeaka Menin was a real carrying threat all day long and DeMerchant managed to get over the white wash when she entered the field. Scotland’s front row were unable to make as much of an impact.

Second row: Advantage Canada
Sophie de Goede was truly world class in moments. Despite a rare penalty give away at the lineout, the lock topped the carries with 18 and the tackles completed with 17 and kicked three conversions. Her pick up and offload for Tuttosi’s first try was sensational. Tyson Beukeboom on for her 81st cap became the most capped Canadian international today- an achievement in itself. Sarah Bonar and Emma Wassell worked hard against a strong pack and the Scottish lineout functioned well.

Back row: Advantage Scotland
What a performance from the back row of the losing side- all three within the top five tacklers. Rachel Malcolm- once again a tackle machine with 15, Rachel McLachlan operated as a world class defender, with her offloading from a highlights reel. The touch under pressure to Chloe Rollie in the build-up to Scotland’s first try was memorable.

However, Evie Gallager was the one to watch making crucial turnovers, despite a few handling few errors creeping in and a yellow card, the number eight ran a fantastic line to carve through the Canadian defence to score a fantastic individual score, always threatening the line.

Half backs: Advantage Canada
Justone Pelletier, one of the best in the business at keeping Canada ticking over, her breakdown distribution was at its zippy best. Olivia Apps entered the fray on 55 minutes and continued the high tempo.

Taylor Perry pulled the string quietly at fly-half whilst her opposite number Helen Nelson had a less impressive match by her standards, missing a penalty kick to touch which could have secured Scotland with precious possession inside Canada’s 22. Also had a penalty given against her for being offside when attempting to score from a set play off the lineout.

Centres: Advantage Canada
Alex Tessier showed why she was in the World Rugby 15s Dream Team last year with fantastic kicking from hand at her club home ground of Sandy Park, with her distribution and evasiveness top class. Florence Symonds didn’t have the most memorable of afternoons but was solid in all duties asked of her.

Scotland’s Emma Orr displayed great distribution, whilst Lisa Thomson had a mixed afternoon, an insane offload off the deck allowed for Scotland’s first try, however her kick out on the full and less accurate kicks to touch offered Canada territory and possession which led to more defending for her team mates.

Back three: Advantage Scotland
Fullback Rollie, ever dependable, everywhere on the pitch, provided the perfectly timed try assist to Lloyd for their first score. Lloyd had her best game for Scotland in a while, while star in the making McGhie continued her try scoring run using her speed and deception, a mazy run through the Canadian defence early in the second half showed what a world class threat she can be, but the highlight has to be her curve and weave through defenders which saw her score her sixth try of this tournament- and yet again, it was a screamer.

Surprisingly given their recent form, neither of Canada’s Asia Hogan-Rochester, Paige Farries nor Julia Schell managed to get on the score sheet, seemingly not clicking as well, with a bit of miscommunication hampering their attacks.