Malcolm hails effort but Scots falter again
SCOTLAND captain Rachel Malcolm said she could not fault the commitment of her team despite her side falling to their 11th straight defeat in all competitions.
Although they had home advantage and were only two points behind late in the second half, they buckled when the pressure was on and let this Six Nations match slip through their fingers.
‘That was a proper lung-busting Test match but I’m disappointed because we were totally in it and I couldn’t ask for more from the girls,’ she said. ‘Both teams fought to the bitter end and the game could have gone either way. The way we stepped up defensively in the second half was a massive step forward.
‘The first half we weren’t happy with but in the second half we stopped them. However, they were just so good at keeping ball and eventually it paid dividends for them. I am also really disappointed we did not capitalise on the pressure and energy we had at the end when the game was still close.
‘Set-pieces didn’t go our way and if we sorted our maul out a bit earlier we probably would have been comfortably ahead of them but that’s something we need to look at. We go again against France in a couple of weeks.’
For all the positive words from their captain, this was a below-par Scotland performance with poor handling and a lack of tactical awareness contributing to the home loss that followed a heavy opening day Six Nations defeat to England.
The Welsh scored five tries against a Scotland team that got three of their own, the pick of the bunch a brilliant solo effort from Chloe Rollie.
The visitors took the lead with only three minutes on the clock after player of the match Sisilia Tuipulotu barged over from a line-out move.
Caity Mattinson showed the first piece of quality for Scotland with a 50:22 kick that pinned the Welsh back but the attack off the line-out came to nothing.
With 14 minutes gone, Wales thought they had a second try but the touchdown from Sioned Harries was chalked off by New Zealand referee Maggie Cotter-Orr for offside after a long consultation with the TMO.
Scotland put their first points on the board when Helen Nelson put over a penalty but two minutes later the Welsh got their second try.
Harries made the initial break before Keira Bevan took the ball to a metre from the Scotland line. After two forward drives, Gwenllian Pyrs went over.
Scotland got their first try through hooker Lana Skeldon after a line-out drive but didn’t make the most of having the upper hand for a brief period.
When Wales centre Kerin Lake was blatantly offside, the referee lost patience and showed her a yellow card. Scotland finished the half camped on the Welsh line but could not take advantage of having an extra player on the park.
The visitors increased their lead a minute after the break with Georgia Evans and the pack setting things up before Pyrs dived over.
Scotland hit back with a training ground move that split the Welsh defence which allowed winger Coreen Grant to score.
Just when the home side thought they were getting back into the match Tuipulotu crashed over for her second try.
With 15 minutes left, a brilliant solo try from Rollie brought her side to within two points of the Welsh but seven minutes later Elinor Snowsill put over a penalty for the visitors.
Wales then sealed the win with a try three minutes from time through Ffion Lewis.