Scotland (14) 14
Tries: Gallagher 2 Cons: Nelson 2
New Zealand (38) 66
Tries: Palu, Vaipulu, McGregor, King, Sae 2, Du Plessis, Sititi, Turner, Saili Cons: Sorensen-McGree 7, King
Scotland suffered a second successive defeat in the WXV Global Series as New Zealand ran out comfortable winners at Hive Stadium.
The Black Ferns ran in 10 tries while the Scots struggled to contain the number two ranked team in the world.
New Zealand took no time at all to exert their dominance, punching holes in the Scottish defence before powerful prop Mo’omo’oga Palu blasted through to score.
The Black Ferns set a tempo the Scots could just not live with, and another foray into the Scottish 22 resulted in a neat finish from lock Maama Mo’onia Vaipulu for the second try.
Chloe Rollie picked off an intercept to get Scotland down the pitch and force a penalty, and from the resulting line-out the ball was shipped to Evie Gallagher to crash over.
The visitors reasserted their authority with tries from Justine McGregor and Elinor-Plum King, but the Scots showed some guts to fashion another close-range try for Gallagher to keep them in the game at 24-14.
However, their defensive frailties were exposed as Layla Sae and Amy Du Plessis struck with superb tries to effectively end the game as a contest before half-time.
It bore many of the hallmarks of last weekend’s defeat by Canada, with the Scots conceding immediately any time they looked to have found a way back into the match.
The visitors put their foot on the gas after the break with substitute Amarante Sititi and Tara Turner going over before Sae added her second try, New Zealand’s ninth.
To their credit, the Scots kept the Black Ferns scoreless from the 47th minute until the final play when Alena Saili crossed for New Zealand’s 10th try to round off a dominant display.
Next up for Scotland is Australia back at Hive Stadium next Saturday (16:10), while New Zealand will head south to face England on the same day (15:00).
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