Scots pay hefty price for their slow start
ENGLAND 52 SCOTLAND 10
Scotland coach Bryan Easson admitted it had taken his players too long to get up to the pace of the contest in their opening Six Nations match – the first competitive game some of his team had played since October, writes STUART BATHGATE.
Defending champions England had the bonus point wrapped up before half-time yesterday, but an improved second-half showing
from the visitors at Doncaster’s Castle Park encouraged Easson to believe that a better result will be possible when they meet Italy at Scotstoun a week on Saturday.
He said: “We were all disappointed with our first-half display – we felt at half-time that we’d just sat back and waited to see what England were going to bring to us.
“So at half-time we were quite strong with our words, especially defensively. And in the second half we put England under more pressure.
“We’ll take positives from the game rather than look at the first half. I said to them: ‘You can hold your heads high regarding your second-half performance’.”
Scotland were on the back foot right from the start when captain Rachel Malcolm injured a knee going up for the kick-off, but she soldiered on until half-time before being replaced. England scored five tries and led 33-3 at the break, with Scotland’s points coming from a Helen Nelson penalty.
Nelson also added a conversion to Hannah Smith’s try as the visitors improved after the break, but England added three more tries.
Substitute Molly Wright was sent off for a high tackle with 15 minutes to go, and Lisa Thomson and Louise Mcmillan were sinbinned along with England’s Poppy Cleall and Lark Davies.