XV-a-Side rugby column: Another awful day to forget for Scotland in Italy...
Here is this week’s XV-a-Side column, created in partnership with Rugby Memories Scotland.
WEEKLY TEASERS
Last week’s player was Matt Duncan. And it was FALSE, Matt was a West of Scotland player.
WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS
England beat Wales 62-24 In Bristol as expected, but the visitors put up a brave showing and were only 29-12 down at the break. England are far too powerful, running in ten tries, and look set for an eighth consecutive title. When Wales scored two tries in the final ten minutes, they registered a bonus point amidst great celebrations.
France beat Ireland 26-7 in Clermont, and the Irish missed several great chances to record a famous win. They looked like they were going to do it after a strong first forty minutes, but the French rallied and left the Irish girls frustrated and disappointed.
They had four scores disallowed and the introduction of five players off the bench after 47th minutes seemed to upset the momentum of the side.
The surprise result was Italy’s 41-14 win over Scotland in Parma, and the home side led 29-0 at the interval. Scotland were visibly shell-shocked and it was the same Italian dominance in the second half which gave the Italians their first win of the tournament. Despite playing with only thirteen on the pitch, they held their nerve and the final score in no way flattered them. A day to forget for Scotland.
There are no fixtures next week before the final two games of the competition.
FIXTURE CARD
At the time of going to press, there is still some discussion about play-off participants and venues. Grangemouth are due to be involved in the Caledonian play-offs with a team from the Northern Conference.
RECENT RESULTS
Grangemouth 1s were well beaten 83-32 up in Dundee in another high-scoring encounter. The game didn’t have any bearing on the play-off positions. Grangemouth 2s lost 61-33 to Rosyth Sharks over in Fife.
As expected, the season will be running into May and teams will be struggling to raise teams, given the counterattractions of family commitments, holidays, other sports and what we used to call “domestic pressure”- especially for away games that could involve lengthy journeys.
URC RESULTS
Glasgow’s South African series ended in another defeat, this time to Stormers in Cape Town. The final score of 48-12 was a fair reflection of the second half when a much-changed Glasgow failed to score a single point while the home side doubled their half time lead of 24-12. Stormers are now top of the table on 56 points, one ahead of Glasgow in second place.
On Friday night, Edinburgh beat Sharks 33-28 in an exciting game at The Hive. The home side ran up five tries to end the Sharks hopes of reaching the play-offs. Edinburgh scored three tries in nine minutes to win a game that was threatening to run away from them.
MYSTERY PLAYER?
Who is this former Scotland forward, seen above?
TRUE OR FALSE?
Our mystery player’s son also played for Scotland?