Scotland triumph in Spain

Following the win Lloyd said: “We were a bit nervous going into the game so it was good to get a try early on.Nobody left anything out on the pitch – every player gave their absolute all.All three of my tries came from the solid work by the forwards, giving a platform for the backs to finish. It was a massive team effort.”

For Lloyd, who featured for Scotland Women under-20 last season, the camp and the match are a big step up.“It was my first game in a Scotland shirt and has given me and everyone else in the Scotland Women’s squad a huge boost of confidence going into the 6 Nations.”

The match against Spain – who sit higher in the rankings than Scotland – was an uncapped friendly with the fixture the culmination of the visitors’ training camp in nearby Valladolid, which received significant funding through the Erasmus+ European Commission programme.

Playing in temperatures more akin to winter in Scotland, the team put their intense week of training into practice from the start, bullying the Spanish line and confident in attack. Though Spain started well, a faster and more compact side, the Scots kept their composure and stuck to their game plan. In factScotland dominated most of the game imposed in the. especially at the breakdown where they turned the Spanish over time and again. Spain, on the other hand, were almost unrecognisable from the World Cup a year ago with all of their sevens players absent.

The first, score, from Lloyd, came after 12 minutes, breaking down the wing after the forwards had worked the ball into position to feed it out wide, with the extras added from the confident boot of captain Lisa Martin.Marshalling the troops with composure and verocity in equal measure, Martin then took the Scots into double figures with another try, off the back of the scrum, which she duly converted to make it 14-0 just under the half hour.

Building in confidence by the minute, the Scots heaped on the pressure to cause turnover after turnover, leading to fullback Chloe Rollie touching down over the whitewash after 37 minutes. After the restart, however, Spain were able to put one of their few attacking periods together stringing good phases of play, which lead to their first try, Tania Ortega taking advantage of a quickly taken penalty. But Scotland soon re-establised their advantage with a third try from Rollie just before the break putting Scotland 19-5 to the good.

The second half was barely three minutes old when the Scots, through dogged persistence at the breakdown, forced the penalty, Martin again seeing the ball safely through the uprights.With their Spanish counterparts securely on the back foot, it was Lloyd again who took her chance to wing it from a succession of set piece moves to dot down for her second, after 56 minutes. Martin again did the business with the boot.

The Spanish rallied in the closing ten minutes, camped for much of the time just shy of the Scottish line, but as the action swung back to the other end of the pitch Lloyd was on the receiving end again of a pass out wide to complete her hat-trick.Though the home side notched a last-minute unconverted score, much to the delight of the vociferous Spanish support, it was a confident performance and an assured 34-10 win from the Scots on foreign soil.

Head coach Shade Munro was delighted with the progress the Scotland Women squad have made during their training camp this week, culminating in today’s (Sunday 22 November) 34-10 win over Spain in Madrid.“Everyone played really well and I’m very pleased. We’ve put in the training sessions this week and it shows what the players can do, the difference an intense period of training can make.”

The camp is the most concentrated, in terms of time, with the largest squad – 37 players and 13 coaching and management – assembled in the Scotland women’s game. It received significant funding through Erasmus+, a programme established by the European Commission that allows students and employees to experience cultural and work exchanges throughout Europe, through vocational and educational training.

Despite missing a number of the wider squad, due to work commitments, Munro underlined the benefit of having a larger pool of prospective players to call on this season, so increasing the strength in depth.“We’ve brought in a bigger number of players to our camps this season which has meant we’re not just focused on the same 23 people.They’ve all brought a variety skills to the table but they’ve been organised, they’ve bought into what we do and have embraced the opportunity.”

While pleased with the whole team performance, Munro bestowed particular praise on his leader on the field in today’s win, Edinburgh-born stand-off Lisa Martin.

He said: “Lisa was an outstanding captain, kicking goals, scoring and leading the team by example.Karen Dunbar [at openside] was a standout for her work rate, Jade [Konkel, no 8] put in some great tackles and Rhona [Lloyd, wing] was so fast in attack.”

Praising the overall performance, and the growing confidence of the players as the match progressed, Munro did however highlight certain areas where he had noticed the most improvement.“Defence is top of the list – we kept it down to two tries against us – we heaped the pressure on them and didn’t allow them to score.The players’ willingness to play and to attack was really pleasing, too. Have been wary in the past, that’s not the case now.Then their enjoyment of the game was great to see – they really loved playing today and that pleased me so much, that’s what it’s all about.By giving the players the licence to play freely – if it’s on to kick it then kick it – that freedom brings the confidence to make decisions, and they made the right decisions today.”

The squad now have two more days at training camp in Valladolid and will embrace the time remaining to further enhance their learning. Monday will focus on recovery and analysis while Tuesday will turn to weights and individual skills.Squad selection following this camp will result in a training group reconvening in December and on to an eight-day camp in the lead-up to the 6 Nations.

Munro added:“Momentum has been created at this camp after this win, the players are enjoying their game, are motivated by the achievement and growing in confidence in their abilities.”

Spain:1. Isabel Rico 2. Aroa González 3. Jaenina Vinueza 4. Tania Ortega 5. Diana Gasso 6. Saioa Juarena 7. Carmen Pérez 8. Isabel Macías 9. Anna Arnau 10. Carlota Meliz 11. Lucía Díaz 12. Lourdes Alameda 13. Anna Ramón 14. Nuria Yurrita 15. África Félez

Reserves: 16. Mónica Castelo 17. María Sobrinos 18. Magdalena Pérez 19. Macarena Del Valle 20. Elena Redondo 21. Anne Fernández 22. Amaia Erbina 23. Nerea Aguirre 24. Selene Roz 25. Elsa Porto 26. Joana Murray.

Scotland:1 Heather Lockhart (Hillhead Jordanhill);2 Lana Skeldon * (Hillhead Jordanhill);3 Lindsey Smith (Hillhead Jordanhill);4 Emma Wassell * (Murrayfield Wanderers);5 Deborah McCormack (Richmond);6 Jemma Forsyth (Hillhead Jordanhill); 7 Karen Dunbar (RHC Cougars); 8 Jade Konkel * (Hillhead Jordanhill); 9 Jennifer Maxwell (Leeds Beckett University/Lichfield); 10 Lisa Martin * (Murrayfield Wanderers) 11 Rhona Lloyd (Murrayfield Wanderers/Edinburgh University) 12 Lisa Thomson * (Melrose/Edinburgh University) 13 Megan Gaffney (Hillhead Jordanhill) 14 Lauren Harris (Eccles);15 Chloe Rollie * (Murrayfield Wanderers)

Substitutes (all used); 16 Debbie Falconer (Stirling County/Stirling University); 17 Sarah Quick (Murrayfield Wanderers); 18 Katie Dougan * (RHC Cougars/Edinburgh University); 19 Tracy Balmer (Worcester); 20 Jennifer Johnston (Hillhead Jordanhill); 21 Fiona Sim (Saracens); 22 Catriona Syme (Murrayfield Wanderers); 23 Anna Stodter (Saracens); 24 Fionidi Parker (DMP Sharks/Northumbria University); 25 Lucy Park * (Murrayfield Wanderers); 26 Nicola Halfpenny (Melrose); 27 Claire Bain (RHC Cougars); 28 Eilidh Sinclair * (Murrayfield Wanderers); 29 Emily Irving (Ayr); 30 Abigail Evans (Hillhead Jordanhill)

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