All four teams – Scotland, Wales, USA and the Netherlands – have played in an adapted 30-minute games against one another yesterday (Tuesday 23 July) at Cardiff University.

In their opening match against the USA, Scotland were at the end of a hard-fought loss, 17-0.

Reflecting on their opening match, Head Coach Lindsey Smith, said: “Our first game against the USA was a very physical one. This is the first experience a number of our girls have had playing at this level of competition but in areas of our game we played really well.

“Our scrum was strong, and we had some players transitioning in the forwards to new positions including Imogen Spence and Sarah Murray they really impressed. We spent a lot of time in the USA 22 but we perhaps weren’t clinical enough to get points on the board and we did have a try held up.”

The team’s second challenge came against Wales, missing out 7-29. Dunfermline’s Bethan Mathieson scored Scotland’s only try of the match, which was converted by Currie Chieftain’s, Niamh Waters.

“We came back to play against Wales, where the physicality was another step up with big hits going in from both sides”, said Smith.

“Bethan’s try against Wales was a well worked one with the forwards carrying with dominance, before finding Bethan in space in the backline, who beat two defenders to score under the posts. It was a good reward for their work.”

Scotland ended the day on a high with a winning performance against the Netherlands, 10-7. Ellie Moffat of East Lothian Girls and Waters scored Scotland’s two tries.

“Our best rugby was played against the Netherlands. We definitely improved between the two games, especially at the breakdown, it was very competitive. The link up between our forwards and backs was really strong and our set piece stood up really well. We scored two lovely tries through Niamh and Ellie, and they had both played well throughout the day, so it was great to see them get across the line.”

The team will go on to face the Netherlands on Saturday 27 July in a 70-minute match, kicking-off at 10am.

Looking ahead to the final challenge, Smith added: “I’m pretty pleased with how the team improved over the day. I think now we’ve got that initial experience of international rugby under our belt; I think it sets us up nicely for our next match against the Netherlands on Saturday.

“We will have a few days of training this week to help prepare for that and the chance to play yesterday has given us a chance to see where we are at and where we need to improve but we are in a really positive place.”