WXV2: Scotland vs Italy Talking Points

Scotland overcame tricky opposition in horrible-looking conditions to open their WXV2 title defence with a dominant 19-0 win over Italy.  Here are the talking points from the match.

Defence proves a strong foundation

Until a couple of years ago, Scotland really struggled to defend Italy’s fast and unpredictable attack and Italy were seen as something of a bogey team for Scotland. This time, defence was near-flawless and as far as I can see, this was the first time Italy had failed to score against Scotland. It also was the first clean sheet against a top-12 team since 2006. Some of it was due to the weather conditions after the first quarter which made handling difficult but it was also due to the fantastic organisation and pressure from Scotland.

This pressure came from all over the park. There were early huge hits from Meryl Smith and Emma Orr (who was Scotland’s second highest tackler with 16 completed tackles, only beaten by Evie Gallagher with 17). There was a passage where Fran McGhie chased down two kicks and affected a turnover from both.  Rachel McLachlan, Sarah Bonar and Anne Young were also in double figures for tackles completed.  Scotland were so excellent in keeping players up for a couple of seconds when tackled and so effective at ruck time, meaning Italy’s attack really stuttered.  The opponents never really were able to flow and were often forced to kick not at all on their own terms.

Strong defence has been increasingly a feature of this team’s performances over the past couple of seasons. This time when Italy got a bit of possession, they didn’t really get anywhere near the try line, they were so well contained, that this felt like a step up to a new level.

Forwards to the fore

This match really lived up to the cliché that rugby matches are won by forwards, with the backs deciding by how much. These two packs have generally been well-matched in recent encounters. But it felt like in this game, Scotland’s pack really had the upper hand. Given how much the Italian scrum was going backwards, particularly earlier on, it was perhaps idiosyncratic refereeing that led to the only scrum penalty going to the Italians – for most scrums, Italy did not look too comfortable at all. Although there were a couple of line out errors, Scotland achieved a line out success percentage of 86 % from 14 line outs, much better than Italy’s 68%.  Both set pieces gave Scotland a really good platform for the game.

Another thing that stood out was how dominant and effective a lot of the carrying was from the forwards. At times in the Six Nations, Scotland didn’t always get much change from their carries and couldn’t necessarily use them to get on the front foot.

Here it felt like the line was constantly being tested, pressured and breached, as players charged onto perfectly weighted passes from Caity Mattinson and Helen Nelson. The first and third tries may have been scored by the backs, but they had space because the Italian defence had been so effectively contracted by some hard and tireless carrying from the pack.

A similar performance will be needed for the next two matches, in particular against Australia, to give Scotland a chance of retaining their title – but they look as fit and strong as I can remember.

With all the pack on top form, Gallagher still managed to stand out. Her stats are quite incredible – top carrier in the match with 22, top tackler with 18 completed and a phenomenal 5 turnovers. I’ve had a quick look at the stats for the other WXV1 and WXV2 matches, and across all 6 matches that puts her joint 8^th for tackles completed, second for carries and way out in front on number of turnovers. A well-deserved player of the match, epitomising the commitment of the forward pack.

Frustrating finishing

If there was one slightly disappointing aspect to the game, it was Scotland once again not converting enough of their chances and missing out on a bonus point against Italy for the second match in a row. They did come very close several times, thwarted by tiny margins.

Coreen Grant took her eyes off a slippery ball a fraction before she had it fully under control following a fantastic cross kick from Nelson. Emma Orr was possibly a fraction early running a line that cost her momentum so she could be well wrapped up by three Italians and held up over the line.

The stats suggest that Scotland had 60% territory for the match and that 54% of their time in possession was in the Italian 22, which probably should have led to more than three tries. The aforementioned weather conditions did not help, of course, so a couple of attacks ended in spills, and a couple of promising line outs went astray. Ferocious Italian defence also killed off a couple of moves.

The positive to focus on is that they are creating so many chances and getting themselves into so many good positions with some quick and accurate attacks that move them up the pitch.

When they are creating that much, perhaps they can sometimes afford to waste a few and still see out victory. But this is probably still the biggest work on for this team, as they want to start pushing the top four teams who will give them far few chances, so Scotland will need to be clinical when opportunities come.

Last season, it was the difference between 3^rd and 4^th in the Six Nations. Scotland know this themselves and mention it often, so hopefully we will see them put it right in their remaining two games in the tournament.

A tale of steady progress

Although clinical finishing remains a work-on, there was still so much about this match that showed how Scotland are progressing. As noted already, Italy were a team that this Scotland team had struggled against, and this was their biggest margin of victory against Italy since 2007. 

With the conditions and the potential frustration from not managing to score in early periods of dominance, Scotland could have let their heads go down. Rachel Malcolm pointed out post-match that a couple of years ago Scotland would not have won a game like that. But now they have the confidence and self-belief to know that if they stick to their task, they can hold the opposition out and the points will come.

Even in the WXV2 last year, the coaches seemed reluctant to deviate too much from the first-choice team and, although that definitely paid off in terms of securing a tournament win, there was a little worry that Scotland were missing an opportunity to build depth. This time round, it feels like we are getting team selections for how best to beat the opposition, and experienced key players could either be benched (like Lisa Thomson) or left out the 23 altogether, in the case of Jade Konkel, Leah Bartlett and Rhona Lloyd, without any worry about a drop-off.

Although possibly a minor point, the fact that this really is a rotatable squad feels like another sign of how far Scotland have come and the great direction in which they are going.

Onwards to Japan

Japan will be a different challenge to Italy as they will look to play extremely fast and work the ball to the edges as quickly as they can. Their match against South Africa was a brilliant spectacle and Scotland will look to dominate them in the forwards and patiently break down their defence as they did last year, but will have to defend at least as well as they did last weekend to contain Japan’s skill, organisation and accuracy with ball in hand.

Although defending the title would be brilliant and a real achievement, to me the most important thing for this tournament is to work on things, build confidence and give everyone game time as well as maintaining their top 8 world ranking ahead of the World Cup draw.

With teams 9-12 all playing each other in WXV2, Scotland have this in their own hands although a heavy defeat to Japan could make things tight.

There won’t be any easy groups in the World Cup, especially with the top 4 teams generally quite far ahead (although Ireland might disagree after Sunday’s heroics) but avoiding the likes of Ireland and the USA in the pool stage would be a huge bonus, so another quality performance against Japan is a must.

A big win against a close rival means the tournament is already a success, and there are two more games now to work out different game plans, get younger players more experience, face less familiar opposition and build towards next year’s World Cup.

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