Scotland shed past scars to achieve World Cup goal

Scotland’s defiance kept a feisty Fiji at arm’s length to secure their place in the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, which lacked maturity.

The Scots have reached the final eight for the first time since 2002, and they have frequently struggled to do so in Salford over the past 25 years.

Rhona Lloyd has done it all for Scotland, enjoyed the highs and endured the lows, and after the game, her mind wandered back to a particularly grim time for Scotland Women when they lost a two-legged World Cup play-off to Spain in 2016.

The faces that were present at the previous World Cup, when we didn’t advance to Spain, were “a lot of the people here,” Lloyd, who scored twotries against Fiji, told BBC Scotland.

So for us to now be qualified for quarter-finals, which puts Scotland on the map, which means the world, which is currently in sixth place.

The winner of the bunch was Emma Orr’s incredible solo score, which culminated in a top-notch individual performance, while Lloyd and Francesca McGhie, who has now scored five tries in two games at this tournament, each grabbed a double.

Some of Scotland’s best moments bore Orr’s stamps. McGhie’s first try was set up by her clever kick through. The centre seized on a loose ball to launch a defense-style attack that saw Lloyd score her second try.

Orr’s try will be considered the tournament’s best, but it also had an impact on the player’s more subtle aspects. Her defensive readings are typical of those found in a wise old veteran for a 22-year-old.

According to Scotland’s captain Rachel Malcolm, “Emma Orr is just a phenomenal talent.”

She’s as unassuming as she comes, but she’s still considered one of the best players in the world today and has always been.

“The exciting thing is how much younger she is and how much better she’s probably going to keep getting,” she said.

She is one of those runners who can keep her feet on a day when people are chomping at her feet because she is so graceful.

More than any other team in the tournament, Scotland’s backs have scored ten of the eleven tries they have attempted at this World Cup.

The likes of Orr, McGie, and Lloyd are gaining ground in this area, but they are being allowed to thrive by the hard work being done upfront, most notably by Evie Gallagher’s player of the match in the match against Fiji.

After the match, there were some sore bodies as the players shuffled through the media mixed zone, but the players reaffirmed that this was the kind of attritional conflict they needed before their Pool B decider against Canada in Exeter on Saturday.

With two impressive victories over Fiji and Wales, the Canadians are ranked second in the world and have shown why.

The Scots will enter as big underdogs, but given how quickly confidence is eroding within them, they will secretly anticipate a surprise team-up.

According to Scotland head coach Bryan Easson, “Canada are the second best team in the world for a reason.”

“They have a bench right across the pitch, one to fifteen,” they say.

We have a plan in place, and we’ll get ready for that.

“This group has experienced two emotional battles as well as physical battles,” the group said. It was a physical battle to recover from our emotional buildup when we faced Wales.