‘Not a witch hunt’: Scotland Women vow after Australia defeat as Sione Fukofuka issue raised

Saturday’s 30-10 loss to the same opponents at Hive Stadium was their third in a row in the competition, albeit the previous two came against Canada and New Zealand, two of the women’s game’s biggest hitters.

The same can’t be said of Australia who went into the weekend match ranked ninth in the world, one place beneath the Scots. Their comeback win in Edinburgh will see them leapfrog Scotland when the new rankings are published on Monday.

Dave Butcher, Scotland’s interim head coach, said there had been tears in the players’ huddle post-match while captain Rachel Malcolm vowed there would be no “witch hunt”.

The home side had led 10-5 at half-time but conceded 25 unanswered points after the interval, conceding three tries in a fatal seven-minute period early in the second half.

Not a pleasant message

Butcher, previously the forwards coach, was placed in charge following Sione Fukofuka’s sudden defection to Australia. Fukofuka, who succeeded Bryan Easson as Scotland head coach after last year’s Rugby World Cup, stepped down on August 3 because of “the stress and the strain” of being apart from his family in his native Australia.

Eight days later, he was appointed head coach of Australia, much to the surprise of Scottish Rugby chiefs.

Butcher, who joined as forwards coach ahead of this year’s Six Nations, found himself thrust into the top job and had only six weeks to prepare the team for WXV matches against Canada and New Zealand, ranked third and second in the world.

Unsurprisingly, heavy defeats followed, with Scotland losing 64-26 to Canada and 66-14 to New Zealand, conceding 10 tries in each game. Saturday’s match with Australia was supposed to be a more even contest but the visitors turned the game around in the second half after some harsh words at half-time.

“It wasn't a pleasant message,” said their caretaker coach Tim Walsh. “I wasn't happy with our performance.”

‘Look in the mirror’

Butcher, meanwhile, was left gutted by the manner of Scotland’s defeat after Evie Gallagher’s opening try and five points from the boot of Helen Nelson.

Asked if it was the most disappointed he’d felt in his three games in charge, he was unequivocal. “Definitely, 100 per cent,” he said. “You know, we set out, what was it, eight weeks ago now to play a type of rugby.

“We knew the first two teams that we played against were world-class, but we wanted to see growth and development through those games. I think we've seen that, you know, in where we wanted to go.”

Scotland also lost Gallagher to a yellow card as Australia scrum-half Samantha Wood scored early in the second half and the Wallaroos bagged further tries through Brianna Hoy and Faitala Moleka while Gallagher was in the sin-bin.

Malcolm said it was now up to the team to “look in the mirror” and take responsibility.

“It's not a witch hunt, and it never will be in this group as long as I'm in it,” said the long-serving skipper. “It's about being truthful with each other and doing everything we can to get Scotland Women in the best place possible. That might be taking some harsh criticism from each other, but we're pretty used to that, and I've got absolutely no doubt that we'll continue to grow as this group, and this new group, this young group.”

Meanwhile, Walsh said there had been no input from Fukofuka into Australia’s win. Walsh is director of women's high performance for Rugby Australia and was involved in the hire of Fukofuka and insisted it had all been above board.

“I don't think good coaches are on the market for too long,” said Walsh.

“And I think it's worked out well that Scottish nationals are coaching Scotland and Aussies are coaching Aussies. So it's a good result for everyone.”