Chloe Rollie’s late try, converted by Sarah Law, sealed a dramatic 20-18 win for Scotland against Ireland to finish second in the European Qualification Tournament for the 2021 Rugby World Cup, keeping their hopes of playing in New Zealand alive at the expense of their opponents.
Italy, Scotland and Ireland’s hopes of reaching the World Cup all rested on this game, with the winner of the tournament qualifying automatically for New Zealand, while the runners-up would go through to a final qualifier.
After the Azzurre’s earlier win over Spain, with a bonus point, Ireland needed five points to finish top, while a draw or a win would secure second.
Scotland could not top the pile, but knew victory would be enough for second.
And that is exactly what they did, producing the accuracy they needed at the vital moment as they went through the phases and eventually sent Rollie over on the final play. That left Law with a tricky conversion to win it, but she nailed it to spark cries of delight for the Scots, and the watching Azzurre in the stands in Parma, while it was heartbreak for Ireland under the posts.
Ireland had opened the scoring through a wonder try from Linda Djougang before a Helen Nelson penalty, and a Rhona Lloyd try sent Scotland in ahead at half-time.
Scotland were on the scoresheet again after the break, through Lana Skeldon before Ireland’s Lindsay Peat scored a try between two Stacey Flood penalties but it was Rollie and Law who had the final word.
Ireland prop Djougang, who had looked a threat in the opening stages, broke the deadlock on the 18th minute in sensational style, picking up the ball on the edge of Scotland’s 22 before powering through four defenders from a standing start to score.
The try wasn’t converted, and Scotland bounced back quickly, getting the ball straight into the Irish half before flanker Edel McMahon was shown a yellow card for a high tackle to reduce Ireland to 14.
Nelson successfully kicked the resulting penalty to make the score 5-3, but Ireland defended resolutely not to concede any more points during the sin-bin period.
But their hard work was undone after Scotland scored an outstanding try when Nelson’s cross-field kick found Lloyd on the wing to send Scotland into the break 8-5 ahead.
After half-time, Scotland won a penalty at scrum time inside the Irish 22, and the Scots set a driving maul which took them to Ireland’s try line.
After a series of pick and goes, Skeldon collected the ball at the back of the ruck and powered over from a short distance to score Scotland’s second unconverted try.
Ireland were not going down quietly, though, and Flood reduced the deficit to five points.
Then, replacement Peat ran a great line off a teammate’s shoulder to deceive the Scottish defence and cross the whitewash from inside ten metres.
The try was converted by Flood, who then kicked another penalty to extend the Irish lead to five points at 18-13.
Ireland needed two tries with 12 minutes remaining to qualify automatically for New Zealand, and their chances of doing so took a big hit when Eve Higgins was shown the game’s second yellow card for a tip tackle.
Instead, it was Scotland who could dream of victory and keeping their own World Cup hopes alive, and they kept their calm under pressure to send Rollie over on the right, the full-back getting as close to the posts as she could to give Law the best chance of converting.
She did, and Scotland will now go into the repechage tournament as they look to join Italy in New Zealand.
