Relive Scotland’s Autumn Test against Japan

6 May 2020

This Wednesday evening, Scottish Rugby will be replaying Scotland Women’s test match against Japan from November 2019 at Scotstoun Stadium. Join us from home to watch the action together on Facebook and YouTube from 7pm BST, powered by SP Energy Networks.

Ahead of the full match replay, here is a reminder of the team’s season so far and the match day line-ups.

SEASON SO FAR

Scotland started their season off strong with a double victory over South Africa in their first ever tour as a squad, and their first matches in the Southern Hemisphere. The tour gave the team some invaluable time together during training and match days.

In their first Autumn Test, their winning streak was halted by a strong Welsh team. The visitors beat Scotland 3-17 in a physical match at Scotstoun.

Japan have shown that they are stronger than their rankings suggest with a 17-17 draw against a strong side from Italy the weekend before their clash with Scotland.

THE TEAMS

Both Jade Konkel and Emma Wassell earn their 40th caps against Japan. Scotland have only faced Japan before when they were invited to play in the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Marcoussis in the summer.

Scotland: 15. Chloe Rollie 14. Rhona Lloyd 13. Hannah Smith 12. Lisa Thomson 11. Megan Gaffney 10. Helen Nelson 9. Jenny Maxwell 1. Lisa Cockburn 2. Rachel Malcolm 3. Mairi Forsyth 4. Emma Wassell 5. Sarah Bonar 6. Louise McMillan 7. Rachel McLachlan 8. Jade Konkel

Substitutes: 16. Issy Drexler 17. Panashe Muzambe 18. Anne Young 19. Christine Belisle 20. Evie Tonkin 21. Mhairi Grieve 22. Sarah Denholm 23. Abi Evans

Japan: 15. Ai Hirayama; 14. Noriko Taniguchi, 13. Ayaka Suzuki, 12. Kanako Kobayashi, 11. Anna Kasai; 10. Minori Yamamoto, 9. Moe Tsukui; 1. Sachiko Kato, 2. Maiko Fujimoto, 3. Saki Minami, 4. Ayano Sakurai, 5. Yuna Sato, 6. Seina Saito, 7. Kyoko Hosokawa, 8. Maki Takano.

Substitutes: 16. Makoto Ebuchi 17. Ayumu Kokaji 18. Kie Tamai 19. Misaki Suzuki 20. Sora Konishi 21. Megumi Abe 22. Ayasa Otsuka 23. Mana Furuta.

THE ACTION

Scotland registered the first points of the game as winger Megan Gaffney crossed the whitewash in the opening minutes. An action-packed start to the match saw Japan score two tries to stay on Scotland’s toes. The host pushed hard to earn their second try of the game, with Lisa Cockburn scoring her first try wearing the thistle.

Scotland looked the dominant team for the majority of the second half as they worked their way downfield. In a promising position the ball was worked out to winger Gaffney who dived over the line for her second try of the match.

Gathering some good momentum and urged on by the noisy home support, gave Scotland a 10-point lead with 20-minures remaining. Scotland played another well-worked lineout on the 5-metre line for a driving maul as the players helped push Rachel Malcolm over the whitewash.

Japan weren’t finished just yet, however, and they closed the gap with a try under the posts following a period of sustained pressure to take the lead down to three points.

Unfortunately for Scotland it wasn’t to be as victory was snatched away with less than two minutes remaining. Japan’s Ayasa Otsuka found herself in plenty of space as they stretched the defence to run in what would be the match-winning score in for the visitors.

Scotland would go on to bounce back from a disappointing result at Scotstoun, with a six-try win over Spain in January to go into the 2020 Six Nations on a high. You can watch Scotland’s warm-up match with Spain back in full on YouTube.