Lori Cramer kicked the conversion of Ashley Masters’ 74th-minute try Saturday as Australia rallied from 12-0 down at halftime to beat Scotland 14-12 at the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Later, England and France will meet in the first clash of heavyweights at the tournament. The United States played Japan in another match Saturday.
Top-ranked England and fourth-ranked France have been drawn together in Group C and will meet in only the second round of group play. Both won their opening matches as expected and Saturday’s match might decide the eventual group winner.
While France was impressive in its first-up 40-5 win over South Africa, England stole the show in last weekend’s first round with an 84-19 win over Fiji which enhanced their status as tournament favorites.
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Australia 14, Scotland 12
At Whangarei, New Zealand, Bienne Terita also scored a second-half try for Australia which posted its first win in Group A after a first-round loss to New Zealand.
For Scotland it was a second consecutive heart-breaking result after last weekend’s 18-15 first-round loss to Wales. Scotland had scored a late try which appeared to have secured a draw but Wales won the match with a penalty five minutes after the fulltime siren.
Again on Saturday, Scotland seemed to have done enough to secure a better result. It led early with a try to hooker Lana Skeldon from a lineout drive.
Scotland then went ahead 12-0 in the 27th minute with a penalty try after Australia collapsed a series of mauls near their goal line. Australia hooker Adiana Talakai was sin-binned for her role in the final offense.
Scotland held Australia scoreless until the 59th minute when Terita scored in an overlap when Australia finally found a way to outflank the Scotland defense.
The Scotland players had defended superbly until that point. They also were exceptional at breakdowns where they secured many turnovers. The Australia backs looked dangerous at times but moves often broke down because of handling errors or for the lack of timely support.
Australia pressed the Scotland line repeatedly in the final moments and finally broke through when, after a scrum, they moved the ball to the left flank, won the ruck quickly and handed to replacement hooker Masters who crashed through tackles to score.
The match ended on a slightly sour note for Australia when both Masters and Talakai were sent off, Masters for a high tackle and Talakai for a second yellow card offense.
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