Roundup: U18 Women’s Six Nations Festival day two

England U18 V Scotland U18 

The day got underway with Scotland facing off against England. Just four minutes into the match, off a strong pick from a scrum followed by some fast feet, England were able to get the ball out wide to winger Millie Walker who ran in a  60-metre finish, putting them in a five-point lead early on

A series of lofty kicks saw the ball travelling from end to end, but it was Scottish speedster Bethan Mathieson who took advantage of the space to score a sensational try. Following a perfectly timed pass from Niamh Murray, the winger was able to charge down the outside channel to place Scotland in a two-point lead.

Scotland continued to display a strong attacking ethic, with massive carries from the forwards opening space working up a large phase count. With England receiving the ball out of a scrum they looked to pin Scotland back into their own 22. Working the ball out wide England looked for all the world to be scoring, only for Scotland to recover well But quick ball from the ruck saw Charlie Williams charge under the posts to put her side back in front.

Scotland responded quickly, with Robyn Allan charging onto Lucy Symon’s fantastic offload and thundering in to place Scotland back into a two-point lead.

With just two minutes left, England’s Charlie Williams intercepted on the halfway line, charging towards the Scottish 22. After working the ball through to the left side, it was Alice Flemming who ended up dotting down to put England back in front.

With the clock approaching red, England’s left winger Rose Powell Williams was served up a perfect offload from Alice Flemming to put her into a position for an impressive solo effort, racing away to score and round off the first 35-minute match of the day. 

Full time: England U18 22-14 Scotland U18

Scotland U18: 15. Neve Murray 14. Connie Sanderson 13. Robyn Allan 12. Lucy Symon 11. Bethan Mathieson 10. Lucy Ronald 9. Emma Wyllie 1. Amy Vance 2. Emily Sansom, 3. Lilly Clarkson 4. Anna Stodart 5. Layla Mitchell 6. Eve Mackay (Captain) 7. Juliet Ramsay 8. Estella Vaughan  

Replacements: 16. Gemma Gordon 17. Ellen Nimmo 18. Jess Combe 19. Megan Hutchinson 20. Rebecca Whitehead 21. Pip Sutherland 22. Eilidh Rose 23. Eleanor Keenan 24. Rhianna Bodle 25. Danielle Kaschula 26. Niamh Waters 27. Kat Bird 28. Megan Laurie    

Scotland U18 V Ireland U18 

Scotland responded to early Irish pressure when they got up to Ireland’s line. Ireland held firm initially, but Ellen Nimmo took matters into her own hands and the captain wrangled her way out of contact and stretched her arm to see Scotland as the first to score.

After multiple phases of Scotland holding firm on their own line, it was Ireland who were able to wrestle themselves across the line from close range this time, with a tap penalty getting them inches short before Usha Daly O’Toole finished it off. The conversion however, went wide placing the scoreboard at Scotland 7-5 Ireland 

Scotland continued to stand firm as the Irish pressure swelled, and looked like they would hold on for victory. But in almost identical fashion to the first O’Toole went over again, this time two phases after the tap penalty five metres on the left side, and Ireland held on from there for the win.

Full time: Scotland U18 7-12 Ireland U18

Scotland U18: 15. Bethan Mathieson 14. Robyn Allan 13. Kat Bird 12. Niamh Waters 11. Megan Laurie 10. Sophie GIlvear 9. Aoife Powrie-Smith 1. Ellen Nimmo (Captain) 2. Gemma Gordon, 3. Megan Hutchinson 4. Rebecca Whitehead 5. Pip Sutherland 6. Rhianna Bodle 7. Eleanor Keenan 8. Danielle Kaschula 

Replacements: 16. Emily Sansom 17. Amy Vance 18. Jess Combe 19. Lilly Clarkson 20. Layla Mitchell 21. Neve Murray 22. Eilidh Rose 23. Eve Mackay 24. Estella Vaughan 25. Connie Sanderson 26. Emma Wylie 27. Lucy Ronald 28. Lucy Symon 

Reaction

Head Coach Lindsey Smith said: “Firstly, I’m very proud of the girls, they did exactly what we asked them to do. We were really physical around the breakdowns which is something we wanted to work on from game one.

“It was important that everyone got game time, we’re trying to expose people to this level of competition and develop them. What is pleasing for me is that we’ve competed in all three games and we were in a position to win all three of them.

“To execute multi-phase defence like we had to today, that’s class. A lot of these players won’t get exposed to that in the club game so to be able to execute it the way they did, I think that shows a lot of promise for the future.

“Our ability to move the ball is a real strength of ours. I think we need to be a bit more clinical in the opposition 22, which we’ll work on, but you can see the players grow in confidence every time we play.”