Scotland Women V Canada

Scotland Women 0 – 41 CanadaFifth place semi final, Women’s Rugby World Cup In a rematch of their opening pool game, Scotland met Canada at Surrey Sports Park this afternoon, this time with the fifth place final play-off at stake. This was not to be the Scots game, however, as Canada scored six tries – including a brace each from Moyse and Phillips. Said head coach gary Parker: We gave them two soft scores right at the start, like we did in game one, then for about 40 minutes it was pretty even. In the last twenty minutes, however, we lost three or four players through knocks and injuries – we had a hooker playing back row and Tess (Forsberg) making her debut at openside,we lost our stand-off and had to put Lucy (Millard) in to ten. We had to shuffle a lot of players around and it made it difficult for us.  Scotland will now face Ireland in their final match of the tournament, the play-off for seventh and eighth place, on Sunday 5 September. Added Parker: We’ve only been together as a squad for eight months and are a developing side, with lots of youngsters coming through. If we can finish seventh on Sunday it will be a big achievement for this squad and give us a platform to build on. Listen to Gary’s thoughts on today’s match, here: Canada kicked off with the sun on their backs, on pitch 2 at Surrey Sports Park this afternoon and immediately took the initiative, threatening the Scotland defence from the whistle. Despite some great tackling from full back Stephanie Johnston and centre, Lucy Millard, Canada were two tries ahead after six minutes, both scores coming from Heather Moyse, converted by Anna Schnell. The Scots fought back with an impressive pick-and-go by number 8, Donna Kennedy, but the advantage was lost as Michelle Gallo found the whitewash for the opposition, the conversion going wide, to put Canada ahead 0-19 after as many minutes. The playing field was more level for the remainder of the half, with Scotland wing, Lynsey Douglas, putting in some good tackles which she followed up with a great break, in partnership with Louise Dalgliesh. As the advancing Canadian pack ran straight into Scotland stand-off, Tanya Griffith, the ensuing knock curtailed her participation in the match. With the first half coming to an end, the Scots did well to defend their line in the closing minutes with only 14 players, Millard having been yellow carded for interfering with the ball on the ground. Just as the Scots got back to full numbers, the Canadians lost a player with Heather Jaques the recipient of the yellow. Barely five minutes later she was joined by Corrinne  Jacobsen,carded for a high tackle, the loss of the prop led to a re-ordering of the Canadian side and a hasty substitution. A flurry of injuries for Scotland then prompted a reshuffle in the pack, with a number being forced to play out of position. Canada took the advantage again to run in three further tries over the last twenty minutes, the scores coming from Mandy Marchak and Cheryl Phillips (2), making the final score 41-0.   Scotland Women v Canada, Surrey Sports Park, kick-off 4.15pm 15 Stephanie Johnston (Hillhead / Jordanhill)  14 Katy Green (Murrayfield Wanderers) 13 Lucy Millard (Team Northumbria) 12 Veronica Fitzpatrick (Royal High Cougars) 11 Lynsey Douglas (London Wasps) 10 Tanya Griffith (Royal High Cougars) 9 Louise Dalgliesh (Royal High Cougars) 1 Heather Lockhart (Hillhead / Jordanhill) 2 Alison Macdonald (Royal High Cougars) 3 Gillian McCord (Royal High Cougars) 4 Susie Brown (Richmond) 5 Lindsay Wheeler (Darlington Mowden Park) 6 Lynne Reid CAPTAIN (Royal High Cougars) 7 Ruth Slaven (Murrayfield Wanderers) 8 Donna Kennedy (Worcester) Substitutes 16 Sarah-Louise Walker (Watsonians) (on for Kennedy)17 Beth Dickens (Murrayfield Wanderers) (on for McCord)18 Louise Moffat (Murrayfield Wanderers) (on for Wheeler)19 Keri Holdsworth (Watsonians) (on for Reid)20 Tess Forsberg (Murrayfield Wanderers) (on for Slaven) (debut cap)21 Suzi Newton (Team Northumbria) (on for Griffith)22 Nicola Halfpenny (Melrose) Canada1 Leslie Cripps (C), 2 Lesley McKenzie, 3 Corinne Jacobsen, 4 Megan Gibbs, 5 Paige Knauf, 6 Heather Jaques, 7 Gill Florence, 8 Kelly Russell, 9 Julia Sugawara, 10 Anna Schnell, 11 Maria Gallo, 12 Sarah Ulmer, 13 Mandy Marchak, 14 Heather Moyse, 15 Cheryl Phillips Substitutes (all used except 16)16 Kim Donaldson, 17 Marlene Donaldson, 18 Tabitha Stavrou, 19 Jen Kish, 20 Laura Stoughton, 21 Brooke Hilditch, 22 Brittany Waters Referee: Javier Mancuso (Argentina) Assistant Referee 1: Dana Teagarden (USA) Assistant Referee 2: Gabriel Lee (Hong Kong) 4th official: Alan Biggs (England) 5th official: Christine Goldfinch (England)