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Player Comparisons: Ruthless Scotland march on with record win over Wales
By Lucy Lomax
Scotland and Wales have had some real back and forth contests over the past few years, ranked eighth and ninth in the world respectively- this match in Salford produced a much more one-sided score line than many were expecting.
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A 38-8 win in favour of Scotland was a record margin of victory against Wales. It was a performance completely owned by Scotland from the first blow of the whistle.
Outstanding wing Fran McGhie went over after just 55 seconds after a blazing run down the wing and from then on in despite a brief riposte from Wales through Alex Callender, everything went Scotland’s way, but not through dumb luck, through hard and deserving work.
Player of the match McGhie scored a hat-trick and Scotland looked a calm, confident and well drilled side, in comparison to Wales who’s big name players unfortunately did not show up for this must-win pool match.
Front row-Advantage Scotland
Scotland won 83% of their own scrums compared to Wales’ 67%. Lana Skeldon had a typically strong performance from hooker, securing a strong turnover early on in the game to keep the momentum with Scotland, conceding one free kick for a not straight line out throw before being subbed off with a niggle.
Wales made whole sale changes to their front row on the 50 minute mark with head coach Sean Lynn replacing all the starters- this resulted in a scrum penalty with good work from Sisilia Tuipulotu, but Scotland’s scrum held firm throughout the match.
Second row- Advantage Scotland
Wales’ Gwen Crabb was shown yellow for a dangerous tackle in the second half, and Scotland’s pair had a strong showing. Sarah Bonar made a nuisance of herself, with Emma Wassell an impressive work horse with ferocious line speed in defence which put Wales under pressure and drove them back.
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Back row- Honours Even
Wales co-captains Kate Williams and Alex Callender were top and joint-second of the tackle count with 18 and 16 respectively, Callender also made two turnovers. Scotland’s back row tackled like champions with captain Rachel Malcolm also recording 16 and number eight Evie Gallagher got on the scoresheet running a brilliant line to score on the 64th minute, effectively putting Wales’ dreams of an opening win to bed.
Half back- Advantage Scotland
Scotland scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden’s delivery and speed at ruck was first class and she sniped her way over for Scotland’s third try. Replaced by Caity Mattinson on 52 minutes who continued the same intensity and tempo.
Helen Nelson managed the ship maturely at 10 with two impressive line breaks and positioned herself well to receive Scotland defensive kicks, converting four out of six of Scotland’s tries.
Unfortunately for Wales Keira Bevan and Lleucu George had unusually off days, not able to fully insert themselves into the match.
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Centres- Advantage Scotland
Deceptively hard to bring down Emma Orr, handed off well, made a fantastic break down the pitch showing her speed, and coupled with Lisa Thompson who was thunderous in her tackles, these two were a real beacon of light for their team.
Back three- Advantage Scotland
Consistently reliable under the high ball, Chloe Rollie was top of the carries with 14 and always posed a threat when she had ball in hand.
Rhona Lloyd showed some fast feet to provide the assist for McGhie’s third try, and then for the woman herself- hat-trick heroine, was there anything McGhie didn’t do in this match?
Despite profiting from a few poor missed tackles in the build up to two of her tries, the winger had an absolute stormer of a match charging down kicks, shrugging off defenders, and made a crucial tackle on Nel Metcalfe when the full back was racing towards an exposed try line.
Wales’ Metcalfe executed a fantastic chip over the top of the defence to gather and put Wales in an advantageous position inside Scotland’s 22, but there were too few of these momentary sparks from a Welsh perspective.
Scotland come away with a crucial win in a competitive pool and will march on towards Fiji next week.
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