IRELAND suffered a narrow 26-19 loss to Scotland as they finished their Women’s Six Nations campaign with defeat in Edinburgh. Despite this, due to victories against Italy and Wales, Scott Bemand’s side will be finishing the tournament in third place behind England and France.
Ireland were off to an early lead when, at just 11 minutes into the match, Aimee-Leigh Costigan finished the ball in the left corner of the tryline following an offload from Molly Scuffil-McCabe who was able to rid herself of the ruck and run through the left wing. Dannah O’Brien then drove it home with a successful conversion.
The hosts weren’t intimidated by Ireland’s early try and it was Lana Skeldon who was able to give Scotland their first. Ireland were called out for an offside at the ruck, allowing Skeldon to get the ball over the line off the back of a maul.
Helen Nelson was unable to convert.
With halftime looming, the guests’ hopes were dampened when Emma Orr took advantage of a gap in the Irish defence and, along with a conversion by Nelson, put her country ahead at halftime.
In the second half, Ireland redeemed their halftime struggle when Linda Djougang, who had two prior disallowed tries, powered over the line after a break from Ruth Campbell put the guests on edge. Unfortunately, O’Brien was unable to convert and Ireland were level with the hosts at 12-12. To make matters worse for Scotland, Rhona Lloyd was awarded a yellow card for a head tackle on Costigan shortly after.
This equal scoreline would only last for a mere 8 minutes before Scotland once again took the lead. A lineout allowed an offload from Chloe Rollie to get Rachel McLachlan in the right corner, evading the Irish defence and claiming another try. To add insult to injury, Nelson added two extra points via a well-executed conversion.
However, pressure was mounting on Scotland when Nelson was sent to the sin bin due to a ruck penalty as she clasped the ball on her line. Capitalising on said pressure, Emily Lane was able to equalise the score, getting her first international try before O’Brien provided another conversion.
With the score being able to go in either direction, it was ultimately Scotland who were crowned victors when Francesca McGhie powered over the line in the left hand corner. Nelson, who was back from the sin bin, was able to get one last conversion to drive it home.
With the end of the Women’s Six Nations, the Irish national team will be back in action with the Women's Rugby World Cup in August where they will kick off the tournament against Japan.
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