Waterman makes brave Scots suffer as England cruise
Scotland Women’s rugby renaissance was stymied by seven England tries here last night, but it was not all one-way traffic and the hosts were at times defiant and disruptive at the breakdown.
Another sign of the growth of the women’s game north of the border was a record gate for a female international played in Scotland, with tennis coach Judy Murray among the 3,278 crowd. It was England’s Danielle Waterman who was named player of the match though after her two tries.
Just as England were without their talismanic captain in Sarah Hunter, Scotland’s leader and influential fly-half Lisa Martin had to withdraw from the game late on due to an eye problem. From kickoff it was obvious Martin’s presence was going to be missed as England swiftly sought to exploit weaknesses in the Scottish midfield. The hosts wavered after just three minutes with veteran full-back Waterman, playing on the wing to accommodate her apprentice Ellie Kildunne, slipping in to score.
The Red Roses looked to continue the shock-and-awe tactics that took them to a 52-0 win over Wales and 20-year-old prop Sarah Bern pushed over five minutes later. Fly-half Katy Daley-mclean, captain in absence of Hunter, was in fine form from the tee in the first half, executing three out of four attempts.
Scotland showed their character after going 14-0 down and the class of their four full-time professional players was evident. Edinburghbased scrum-half Sarah Law clawed back a penalty after some bright counter-attacking work.
The Lille-based professional trio of No 8 Jade Konkel, centre Lisa Thomson and full-back Chloe Rollie were influential in the Scottish resistance at this stage.
The hosts did a good job of exploiting England’s new-look centre partnership of Lauren Cattell and 19-year-old Lagi Tuima. A cheeky chip from Thomson set up Konkel for Scotland’s first try of the night.
It was England’s turn to snap back in an increasingly breathless first half as wing Charlotte Pearce ran over. There was hope again for Scotland as England’s open side Izzy Noel-smith was sent to the sinbin for the final 10 minutes of the opening half. However, Kildunne scored her eighth try in just six caps since November to take the interval score to 26-8.
With their try bonus point secure, England were confident and Pearce nipped in at the corner for her second try after 47 minutes.
A second England back-rower, Rowena Burnfield, was then shown yellow by referee Joy Neville.
Scotland visibly tired and with loose head Siobhan Mcmillan yellow-carded for a high tackle, England upped the tempo, Tuima opting for route one and shrugging off the Scottish defenders to put England 30 points ahead at the hour mark.
Waterman quickly followed with a her second try, but she was denied a hat-trick at the death.
Scoring 0-5 Waterman try, 0-7 Daley-mclean pen; 0-12 Bern try, 0-14 Daley-mclean; 3-14 Law pen; 8-14 Konkel try; 8-19 Pearce try, 8-21 Daley-mclean con; 8-26 Kildunne try; 8-31 Pearce try; 8-36 Tuima try, 8-38 Daley-mclean con, 8-43 Waterman try.
Scotland C Rollie; L Musgrove (E Sinclair 75), L Thomson, H Nelson, R Lloyd (L Harris 58); L Martin (capt), S Law (M Grieve 62); S Mcmillan (S Cattigan 72) (M Lowish 76), L Skeldon (J Rettie 58), M Kennedy (L Smith 75), E Wassell, D Mccormack, S Bonar (L Mcmillan 58), R Malcolm, J Konkel. England E Kildunne (A Reed 50); D Waterman, L Tuima, L Cattell (K Smith 51), C Pearce; K Daley-mclean (capt), L Riley (C Mattinson 58); V Cornborough (R Clark 65), A Cokayne (L Davies 65), S Bern (J Lucas 58), A Scott, T Taylor (C O’donnell 65), R Burnfield, I Noel-smith, P Cleall (M Packer 65).
Referee Joy Neville (Ireland).