Scotland rue missed chances in costly loss

Scotland skipper Rachel Malcolm was left to rue missed opportunities after defeat in Belfast to Ireland on Saturday saw them finish fourth in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

If Scotland had drawn or won the round five game at the Kingspan Stadium they would have finished third and recorded three tournament victories for the first time since 2005 and, more importantly, qualified for WXV 1 later this year and Rugby World Cup 2025.

As it is, having finished fourth, the same as last year, they will head to South Africa in a few months to defend the WXV 2 crown they won in 2023 and still need to have their World Cup spot rubber stamped.

“There were opportunities to win the game and we didn’t take them,” Malcolm said after the 15-12 defeat.

“I think we struggled to break them down from an attack point of view.

“Our lineout defence gave us a platform to play off, but our lineout attack didn’t function as well as we would have liked.

“When we had the ball we probably didn’t threaten as much as we would like.

“Right now I don’t know exactly why that is. Defensively we put in a brilliant performance, particularly in the first 40 minutes when Ireland were really going at us in terms of those physical carries and I think we fronted up phenomenally well.

“But we can’t defend for that length of time and not potentially break.”

England claimed their sixth successive title and completed a hat-trick of Grand Slams after toppling France 42-21 in Bordeaux.

The Red Roses led from the moment prop Maud Muir charged over in the fourth minute and they went on to score six tries, in front of a 28,000 full house.

England have now won the Grand Slam for the last three years and their winning run in the tournament stands at 29 games.

• Stephanie Craig and Rach Crawford of Dundee Valkyries and Dunfermline duo Chloe Alcorn and Laurie McFarlane were involved as charity team, Pigbarians, won the Leith Sevens in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Brooke Barr of Dunfermline/Stirling County was also part of the squad.