Women's Six Nations 2024: Scotland end 20-year wait with historic win in Wales, France hold off Ireland

Scotland claimed their first victory in Cardiff for 20 years with a nerve-shredding 20-18 triumph in their Women’s Six Nations opener.

A last-gasp missed conversion denied Wales a draw and ensured the visitors secured a historic seventh consecutive Test win.

Helen Nelson kicked 10 points for the Scots, while Coreen Grant and Rhona Lloyd tries had them leading for much of the contest.

But the Welsh stayed in the fight throughout as Sisilia Tuipulotu and Alex Callender powered over for scores and Keira Bevan notched eight points from the tee, and they would have snatched a dramatic late draw had Lleucu George not steered an 80th-minute conversion wide.

The Scots were left smiling as they followed up last year’s WXV2 triumph with a strong start to their Six Nations campaign that puts them in strong contention to clinch a top-half finish that would guarantee qualification for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“It's a historic victory and so much deserved,” Scotland head coach Bryan Easson told the BBC.

“Generally, we felt first half we didn't take the chances we had in the goal zone. After we spoke at half time, we were comfortable, but we had more in us we needed to squeeze out and we deserved that victory today.

“I thought Caity Mattison and Helen Nelson put us in the right areas which made it difficult for Wales to get out. The wind was strong, and we had to manage that, and I think we did that second half well.

“Seven wins a row for this group is phenomenal and it's a special group. We've had some tough times and we knew something special was coming from this group and we'll keep growing.”

Bevan kicked Wales into an early lead but Scotland were first to cross the try line when Grant flew down the wing to touch down, with Nelson adding the extras before extending the lead from a penalty.

Wales reduced the deficit to four points from Bevan’s boot with the final act of the first half, but some magic from the Scottish backline extended their advantage after the break when Emma Orr’s weaving run took her around the Welsh defence before setting up Lloyd to streak down the wing and finish.

Both sides showed defensive resilience by repelling the opposition on their own goal line, but Wales eventually found a way through on the hour mark when Tuipulotu powered over.

A big win at the scrum with five minutes to go gave the Scots the platform for Nelson to kick them into a seven-point lead, but Callender’s stretch over the line at the death promised to level things, only for George’s first kick of the night to fly wide with 30 seconds left on the clock.

France, runners-up in 2023, kicked off their campaign with a confident 38-17 win over last year’s bottom side Ireland in Le Mans.

A 53-3 thrashing in Cork was a low point for the Irish 12 months ago, but they were much improved this time around and put in a dogged defensive performance despite never truly threatening an upset.

The hosts had their first try inside three minutes, Pauline Bourdon Sansus breaking from the base of a lineout maul to weave through and dot down, and a second score came from Marine Menager as the hosts went in 17-3 up at the break.

France had their third eight minutes into the second half when Madoussou Fall went over from close range before earning a bonus point score through Agathe Sochat.

But Ireland had cause for celebration as they finished strongly, Aoife Wafer and Aoife Dalton crossing the try line either side of an Elisa Riffonneau score.

Champions England face Italy in Parma on Sunday in the final match of the opening round.

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