Scotland host first wheelchair rugby international

Last Saturday (18 April) when the Scottish rugby club game was reaching its conclusion at BT Cup Finals Day, at BT Murrayfield, an international rugby match was taking place at the Dundee International Sports Centre.Scotland’s international wheelchair rugby team held their first home international match, meeting Ireland in the first leg of the Celtic Cup.The game started with Ireland getting the ball and immediately George Hill put the first points on the board, leaving the Scots looking shell shocked.It didn’t take long before Ireland scored again through some great play to beat Scotland on their wings and move 28 points clear.With the game now looking like a whitewash Scotland seemed to change their approach in defence and the game started to tighten up.Following the tactical change, Scotland’s Michael Grant scored on his debut which was converted by captain Graeme Stewart to the delight of the home crowd.Just before half-time Grant again got on the end of a great attacking kick from Scotland to cross the try line taking the half-time score to Scotland 10 Ireland 28.  Both teams started strong in the second half with good attacking play, but only to be cancelled out by aggressive defence. Ireland then scored back-to-back tries followed by Scotland which created a real spectacle for the crowd, Tom McCarthy and Grant were the scorers.With only 10 minutes to go Scotland looked the stronger of both teams and tries saw them move within 12 points, however the comeback seemed to end quickly as Scotland tired and Ireland’s Phil Roberts took control of the game, which resulted in two unanswered tries. Ireland finished the game off the stronger of both nations and were deserved winners in the first leg of the Celtic Cup.Following the game, Scotland coach Jamie Seery said: “We’re delighted with the overall event, it was better than we could have ever hoped.During the game we had a patchy performance however played some of the best rugby we have ever played, which is mearly down to the coaching going on at clubs, which means when the players come to the national squad it makes our job a lot easier.We had a poor start to the game which we think is down to us using the wrong tactics and we held off too long before changing this. However, when we did, it was a different game. We will now focus on preparing for the second leg in Blackpool next month.”Scotland and Ireland will next meet in Blackpool on the Thursday 23 May to determine who wins the Celtic Cup.  Full-time: Scotland 28-52 IrelandScotland: Graeme Stewart, Stephen Carling, Michael Mellon, Gavin Dobson, Ian McKeen, Michael GrantIreland: Josh McEvoy, Phil Roberts, Damian McCabe, George Hill, Tom Spencer, Tom McCarthy, Stuart WalkerReferees: Matthew Ball and Steve Abel