Wales had to come from behind once again to seal the victory. They also scored four tries to give them a second bonus point victory of the competition.
The Scots led by 12 points just after half-time, just as the Irish had built up a nine point interval lead in Dublin in Round 1 against Wales, and it took another major fightback on Saturday to secure victory.
Three second-half tries, the last by Ffion Lewis after an Alisha Butchers break, broke the deadlock with the game tied at 19-19 with just five minutes to play. The Scots pounded away at the Welsh try-line in the closing stages, but valiant defence kept them out and sent the record 4,875 crowd home happy.
“My message to the girls at the end of the game was: we can’t keep doing this. Even though it’s great entertaining rugby, and everyone’s on the edge of their seats, we’ve got to start better,” said Lillicrap.
“It was a similar story to Dublin really, we didn’t have much possession or territory first half, but then second half we had a lot of it. Our set-piece was outstanding again as were our driving mauls. The girls really fronted up at scrum time too. I wasn’t stressed, but then the last five minutes were probably more stressful when they were firing at us and we were defending.”
Now it’s on to the ultimate test in women’s international rugby with a game against England
In Gloucester at the weekend. The Red Roses ran in 12 tries in a 74-0 win over Italy in Round 2 having beaten the Scots 57-5 with nine tries in their opening game.
“England are the top team in the world for a reason and we play with and against their girls week in week out in the Premier15s. We know how good they are, so we’ve got to measure up, show them some respect and then give them a great game.” added Lillicrap.
The Wales skipper was also delighted to see a record crowd turn out at the Arms Park to watch her team win – especially the young girls who played on the Principality Stadium pitch before the match.
“Thousands of girls enjoyed the event at the Principality Stadium. They want to be rugby players and they’ve now got something to aspire to.
“They said they’d had a brilliant day and told us they’d loved it. They all want to come back for more and see the next game.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the girls with the resilience we’ve shown so far – but we must raise our game if we are to be competitive against England.
“The Red Roses are outstanding, they’re a top team in the world for a reason.
“We’ll show them respect because we know how good they are but equally we don’t fear them as we play with and against them week-in, week-out. We are excited and looking forward to the challenge.”
There are still some tickets available for the TikTok Women’s Six Nations Round 2 match at Kingsholm on Saturday. CLICK HERE
