Scotland (10) 10
Tries: Gallagher Cons: Nelson Pens: Nelson
Australia (5) 30
Tries: Miller, Wood, Hoy, Moleko Cons: Wood 2 Pens: Wood 2
Scotland suffered a third successive defeat in the WXV Global Series as clinical Australia proved too strong in Edinburgh.
After losses against Canada and New Zealand – ranked two and three in the world – hopes were high the Scots could get off the mark against the side one place below them in the world rankings.
Despite leading 10-5 at the break, Scotland could not live with the rampant Wallaroos, who ran in three tries in a devastating eight-minute second-half spell to secure a comfortable win.
The sides meet again in Sydney next weekend.
Evie Gallagher, following her two tries against New Zealand last weekend, gave Scotland the lead on 15 minutes, dotting down to round off a period of pressure on the Australian line.
The hosts were on top, with Meryl Smith in midfield and lock Holland Bogan carrying hard and asking questions of the Australian defence, but loose work at the line-out cost Dave Butcher’s team some promising attacking positions.
The Wallaroos grew into the game as the half wore on and hit back with a well-worked try. Scotland repelled a rolling line-out maul close to their own line, but the visitors remained patient and spun the ball wide for Georgina Friedrichs to put Desiree Miller over in the corner.
The Scots hit back immediately when Australia were penalised for holding on straight from the restart, and Helen Nelson banged over a penalty to give her side a five-point lead at the break.
However, Australia flew out of the blocks after the interval and turned the game on its head with three tries in quick succession.
The first came when a rolling line-out maul was halted just short and scrum-half Samantha Wood was on hand to dive over. She converted her own try to nudge the visitors in front for the first time, and it was a double blow for Scotland as Gallagher was sin-binned for illegally bringing down the initial maul.
With the numerical advantage, the Wallaroos came on strong as Brianna Hoy and then Faitala Moleko cut through to score and put the visitors in charge at 24-10.
Wood knocked over a penalty to put Australia beyond two scores and added another late on to cap off a dominant second half from the Wallaroos.
