In the opening minutes of the game Scotland asserted their dominant defence on their visitors which continued for the full 80-minutes.

Scoring opened on the tenth minute of the game when Ireland turned over the ball at the breakdown, scrum-half Molly Scuffil-McCabe made the break up-field and found Vicky Elmes Kinlan on the wing who flew down the far side and over the whitewash. Stand-off Dannah O’Brien’s conversion from out wide was successful. [0-7]

Half-way through the first-half Scotland’s defence was ever dominant over Ireland’s attack. At every Irish attacking phase they drove them backwards before number 8 Evie Gallagher turned the ball over just outside the 22. Stand-off Helen Nelson kicked the penalty into touch for hooker Lana Skeldon to throw into the lineout on the five-metre line.

Skeldon found second row Sarah Bonar in the lineout and the pack mauled forward to allow Skeldon to secure the ball down over the try line for the hosts opening score of the game. [5-7]

Ireland looked to be close to be the try line, pilling the pressure on Scotland with only five-minutes left in the half but the ever reliable Gallagher tuned the ball over on the try line for centre Lisa Thomson to kick it out of the danger zone.

Ireland crossed the whitewash twice more before the end of the half but neither time successfully thanks to Scotland’s defence held up twice, once by prop Elliann Clarke and the second time by Thomson.

In the final play before the end of the half, Bonar intercepted the Irish attacking line and hurtled up towards the halfway before fulfilling the dream of kicking the ball up-field for winger Rhona Lloyd to turn on her hot wheels in a foot race for the try line.

Although Ireland won the foot race they recycled it and kicked it out, but it didn’t make touch. Scotland kept a hold of the ball, worked their way through the phases to the other side of the pitch and back out to the far side to outside centre Emma Orr who raced in for their second try of the afternoon. Stand-off Helen Nelson’s conversion was successful [12-7]

Half-time: Scotland 12-7 Ireland

Ireland kicked off the second half and worked their way down into the Scotland 22 within the first 10 minutes of the half. The Scotland defence looked to be holding out just as strong as in the first 40-minutes although Ireland’s prop Linda Djougang did manage to, somehow, secure the ball down with O’Brien converting once again to make it 12-all. In the process of that try Scotland winger Rhona Lloyd was shown a yellow card and Scotland were reduced to 14 players.

Near the hour mark Scotland showed their attacking flair off the set piece and the line out maul got moving. They stretched the ball to either side of the pitch, recycling the ball with patience before it found its way to the far side with openside flanker Rachel McLachlan waiting on the wing to run in only her second try in 51 games for her country. Nelson once again added the extra two points on offer from the try line to extend Scotland’s lead by seven points. [19-12]

With 15-minutes left in the game Scotland’s discipline slipped and after the course of a few reset scrums it was a case of the next infringement will see a yellow card, unfortunately that was shown to Scotland stand-off Nelson.

Despite being a player down, Scotland held up a fourth Ireland try of the day, but the visitors manged to find their way over thanks to replacement back Emily Lane with O’Brien converting to make it 19-all with five minutes left in the game.

In what would be the final play of the game Scotland opted to kick their penalty to touch instead of taking the three points on offer. They backed themselves and it paid off, from the lineout, the ball worked its way to the far side for winger Francesca McGhie to dive over to win the game from Scotland, with Nelson (who had returned to the pitch for this last play) adding the extra two points for added sweetness.

Full-time: Scotland 26-19 Ireland

Scotland: Chloe Rollie (Trailfinders Women), Rhona Lloyd (Les Lionnes de Bordelais), Emma Orr (Bristol Bears), Lisa Thomson (Trailfinders Women), Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers), Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning), Leia-Brebner-Holden (Loughborough Lightning); Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers), Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, (Bristol Bears), Jade Konkel, Sarah Bonar (both Harlequins), Rachel Malcolm (captain) (unattached), Rachel McLachlan (Montpellier), Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears).

Replacements: Elis Martin (on for Skeldon, 63 mins), Anne Young (both Loughborough Lightning)  (for Bartlett, 45 mins), Molly Poolman (Edinburgh Rugby/Watsonians FC) (on for Clarke, on 63), Becky Boyd (Loughborough Lightning), (Gemma Bell (Gloucester-Hartpury/Hartpury University), Rhea Clarke (Edinburgh Rugby/Edinburgh University), Evie Wills (Leicester Tigers), Lucia Scott (Gloucester-Hartpury/Hartpury University) (for Lloyd, 58 mins)

Ireland: Aoife Corey; Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Aoife Dalton, Enya Breen, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O’Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Niamh O’Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang, Ruth Campbell, Fiona Tuite, Dorothy Wall, Edel McMahon, Brittany Hogan.

Replacements: Cliodhna Moloney, Sadhbh McGrath, Christy Haney, Jane Clohessy, Claire Boles, Emily Lane, Eve Higgins, Stacey Flood.

Referee: Natarsha Ganley (NZR)
Assistant Referee 1: Holly Wood (RFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Amber Stamp-Dunstan (WRU)
TMO: Dan Jones (RFU)
FPRO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

Attendance: 6,375
Guinness Player of the Match: Rachel McLachlan (Scotland)