Lisa Thomson scored Scotland’s only try against England.
Image: © Craig Watson.
www.craigwatson.co.uk 
STUART BATHGATE
At Mattioli Woods Welford Road
ONE day, provided the game is played for long enough, Scotland will beat England again. But, after this 27th defeat in a row by the Six Nations champions, that day feels a very long way off.
Going into this match, Bryan Easson‘s team knew they would have to be at their best to have a chance even of giving England a fright. To do more than that they would also need England to be well below their own best. In the event, neither thing happened.
Granted, the home team went off the boil a bit after the break. But, as they were already 42-0 up by that time, they could be forgiven for that. By contrast, Scotland improved notably in the second half, partly by comparison with their hosts.
But it was still a third defeat in a row for them in the tournament following their losses to Italy and France. And they will surely have to play with more confidence and assertiveness to avoid a fourth loss on the bounce when Ireland visit the Hive next Saturday – the same day that England play France in the title decider. But, having said that, captain Helen Nelson argued that, particularly in the second half, her team did enoumgh to go into that match against the Irish with a degree of confidence.
“We spoke a lot about just getting some pride back in our performance, and I think there were definitely parts of the second half that we can be really proud of and we showed the Scotland way,” she said. “I think it gives us a really good platform and some momentum to take into next week against Ireland.
“It was a frustrating first half. We let them come at us a bit too much and struggled to halt that momentum, but I think in the second half there were a lot of positives to take. We kind of got into the flow. I think we had some really good defensive sets, chopping low.
“We showed some glimpses of what we could do, so we’re definitely taking positives from that second half.”
The one obvious mitigating factor behind this defeat is that, for a variety of reasons, Easson has been deprived of a lot of experience recently. Emma Wassell, Meryl Smith and Coreen Grant have all missed the whole Championship through injury or illness, Christine Belisle has dropped out for personal reasons, and captain Rachel Malcolm was ruled out of this game by concussion.
Several less experienced but still important players also missed out on the trip to Leicester: first-choice scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden was, like Malcolm, concussed in the loss to Italy a week earlier, while flanker Alex Stewart and utility back Evie Wills are carrying minor injuries.
A squad with the depth of England’s could easily withstand such losses. Scotland, for all that Easson has more depth than before, cannot do so nearly so easily. The effect of those losses was shown most dramatically on the bench. England’s replacements had 419 caps between them before kick-off: Scotland had 67. That included three uncapped players, Gemma Bell, Rachel Philipps and Rhea Clarke, all of whom came on in the second half.
“They were really good,” Nelson added. “It was a pretty hostile environment for them to come on into, but all three of them did exactly what we asked. Rachel Philipps has been with us for a long time – she’s a big physical girl and I think she showed that. Gemma Bell made her tackles and got stuck in. And Rhea [Clarke] – communication can be pretty tough between the 9 and 10 when it’s loud like that, but I thought she was exceptional. She got the ball away and did everything we asked for. So I think there’s a really bright future for all three of them.”
The game was long gone by the time thos debutants arrived. In fact, it was clearly gone midway through a first half that began with the visitors under massive pressure. They did not get out of their own first half for the first six minutes – and when they did, it was to restart after England’s first try, scored from close range by Kelsey Clifford.
A Chloe Rollie interception managed to prevent a second try ten minutes later, but the score was not delayed for long, with Marley Packer finishing off after a scrum. Then, as Scotland tried to attack, captain Helen Nelson had a pass picked off close to halfway by opposite number Zoe Aldcroft, who had a clear run to the line for her team’s third try.
Winger Claudia MacDonald, voted player of the match, got the fourth try when she beat several defenders from just outside the visitors’ 22. Minutes later, an Emma Orr tackle denied MacDonald another score. But in the closing stages of the half, England added two more touchdowns. Abbie Ward got the first, Lark Atkin-Davies the second, both from close range. Stand-off Holly Aitchison converted those two, as she had done the previous four, to make it 42-0 at the break.
With the match well won, England’s level went down a notch or two early in the second half. Scotland began to look a touch more dangerous in attack, but a half-chance went begging when Francesca McGhie knocked on a Rollie pass.
Then, after nearly 10 minutes without a score, England struck again. Jade Shekells made a break on the right, and when the ball was recycled left, MacDonald had enough space to finish off for her second try. Aitchison’s conversion took the home side to within a point of the half-century.
Then Scotland got the score they had been threatening. A maul from the lineout got closer and closer, then eventually crossed the line. The decision went to the TMO, and eventually the try was awarded – with Lisa Thomson credited as the scorer. Nelson converted.
With time running out, Abby Dow scored the try of the game with a fine solo run down the right – albeit one that was helped by some tired-looking tackles. Aitchison’s conversion came back off a post – one of the few things that had gone wrong for England all afternoon.
Rollie was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on two minutes from time, and Dow got her second in the same corner as the first. Aitchison was off target again, but seven out of nine was a decent return nonetheless.
Teams –
England: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones (E Scarratt 63), J Shekells (H Rowlands 58), C MacDonald; H Aitchison, L Packer (N Hunt 58); K Clifford (H Botterman 51), L Atkin-Davies (M Campbell 51), S Bern (M Muir 51), R Galligan, A Ward, Z Aldcroft (captain, M Talling 56), M Packer, M Feaunati (A Matthews 58).
Scotland: C Rollie; R Lloyd, E Orr, L Thomson, F McGhie (L Scott 54); H Nelson (captain, R Philipps 73), C Mattinson (R Clarke 62); A Young (L Bartlett 54), L Skeldon (E Martin 54), E Clarke (M Poolman 67), B Boyd (A Ferrie 67), S Bonar (G Bell 73), E Gallagher, R McLachlan, J Konkel.
Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy).
Scorers –
England: Tries: Clifford, Packer, Aldcroft, MacDonald 2, Ward, Atkin-Davies, Dow 2. Cons: Aitchison 7.
Scotland: Try: Thomson. Con: Nelson.
Scoring sequence (England first): 5-0; 7-0; 12-0; 14-0; 19-0; 21-0; 26-0; 28-0; 33-0; 35-0; 40-0; 42-0 ht; 47-0; 49-0; 49-5; 49-7; 54-7; 59-7.
Yellow card: Scotland: Rollie 78.
Attendance: 15,530.