WALES Women moved to the top of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations table after securing a 34-22 victory against Scotland at the DAM Health Stadium.
Teenager Sisilia Tuipulotu bagged her second consecutive player of the match performance with two tries but her fellow prop Gwenllian Pyrs wasn’t to be outdone as she claimed a brace.
Wales entered the match as firm favourites but Scotland played their part in an enthralling spectacle.
The success was built on fast starts to both halves as Wales showed a killer touch to fend off the Scottish challenge.
The match had barely started when Georgia Evans claimed a clean lineout and the ball moved swiftly to rampaging prop Tuipulotu who powered over by the corner flag to give Ioan Cunningham’s side the ideal start.
Making her first start of the campaign, Sioned Harries then pounced to force the ball down but she was penalised for being off-side in the process to give Scotland a lucky break.
The tide began to turn as Scotland became more competitive at the breakdown and the line-out became more secure.
Scotland eventually got off the mark in the 27th minute when fly half Helen Nelson nudged over a short range penalty.
Wales flooded through from the restart though with Harries bursting clear and putting Keira Bevan free.
The scrum half was brought down inches from the line but quick recycling saw prop Pyrs touch down, converted by Bevan for a 12-3 lead with 10 minutes remaining of the first half.
But Scots hooker Lana Skeldon was driven over from close range with a well worked line-out, and Nelson added the extras to bring the score to 12-10.
On the stroke of halftime Wales were reduced to 14 players when centre Kerin Lake received a yellow card for being off-side.
But Pyrs scored her second try two minutes after the restart, on hand to recycle the ball and double her tally for the afternoon.
With Bevan adding the extras, Wales jumped out to a 19-10 lead.
Scotland got back in the mix when Coreen Grant was on the end of a delicate pop pass to score next to the posts, Nelson’s conversionmaking it 19-17.
Tuipulotu emulated Pyrs when she powered over from close range to record her second try to put 24-17 ahead after 54mins.
But full-back Chloe Rollie brought the home side back to within two points with a brilliant solo try when she left two Welsh defenders clutching thin air with a deadly strike from 22m.
Elinor Snowsill calmed Welsh nerves with a close-range penalty, before Ffion Lewis wrapped up the victory when the ball popped out from a retreating Scottish scrum and she darted over to sink Scottish hopes for the second year running.