You can’t win the Six Nations after two rounds but you can definitely lose it. That’s the prospect Wales were facing as they traveled to Murrayfield. They needed a win to get their campaign back on track. Scotland had a chance to build on their performance in Paris but would need to improve their discipline to secure their first win.
Here is a report by Mike Korolishin
Wales 26 – Scotland 23
by Mike Korolsihin
(“USARugger”)
After some hard ruck play from both sides Finn Russell the Scotland flyhalf kicked the ball dead in goal. Soon afterwards Wales capitalised on their field position and Leigh Halfpenny knocked over the first points of the match after a “not rolling away” call on Blair Cowan.
Russell must have been keen to redeem himself though as he would rip the ball from a Welsh player and pass out to Stuart Hogg who would streak some 70-odd metres down the field into the Welsh try zone. Despite the scoreline, Wales still had the lion’s share of possession and territory.
Stuart Hogg – scored first try of the match sensationally
Scotland would begin one of several long spells of hard defensive play, something that no team wants to get sucked into doing during any game. Much less against a team of cryogenically powered, 6’5″ cyborgs.
Finn Russell would again announce himself to all watching in the worst way possible after receiving a yellow card for taking Dan Biggar out in the air on a textbook Garryowen. It was not a malicious effort but instead of jumping to compete Russell would pull out and turn away from the leaping Biggar at the last moment, sending the Welsh outhalf tumbling dangerously to Earth.
It would only take a few minutes before Wales launched a very simple but effective counter-attack after turning over Blair Cowan in their own half. The ball would go through the hands of nearly the entire forward pack before reaching Liam Williams out wide, who would break and throw the ball inside for the ever-present Rhys Webb to dive over with. After Halfpenny converted Wales lead 16-10.
Unfortunately another brain explosion in the air would cost the valuable Welsh centre Jonathan Davies ten minutes in the bin. Again, not a malicious effort. But you simply cannot take the man out of the air as Davies did.
Scotland would spend the remaining five minutes of the half pouring the pressure on the Welsh, much of it just meters from the try line. But alas, an “unplayable” ball at the back of a ruck would signal the end of the half. With Wales sitting on another 6-7 minutes of Davies in the bin, Scotland would need to come out firing again as they were at the end of the first half when the score remained at 16-10 for Wales
Rhys Webb – ever-present to score first Wales try
There were chances for both sides but by 14 minutes into the second half the only scoring was a penalty goal from Wales and two from Scotland, including a 45 metre effort from Laidlaw. 19-16 Wales.
After some shaky handling by both teams and the exit of Richie Gray (looked like a wrist or arm injury) Liam Williams would be called back after dotting down in the corner due to a dummy pod of Welsh forwards breaking off of the maul and obstructing the Scottish cover defense.
With the game in the balance Jonathan Davies came steaming onto the ball and rip the Scottish defense to shreds all on his own before touching down right between the posts. Fantastic running line by the Welsh 13 and a beautifully delayed pass by Dan Biggar. The conversion made the score 26-16 to Wales.
Jonathan Davies makes the key score of the game
The last 10 minutes of this test would have been a very hard time for any Scotland fan. After a few minutes of getting away with just about anything and everything at the ruck, Wales would be warned “no more penalties”. Somehow this never translated into a card, or even enforcement of the laws on several occasions following the warning.
Finn would then miss another touch finder, possibly throwing Scotland’s last chance at taking the match. Then suddenly Stuart Hogg would find just enough space to break and feed the ball to replacement scrum half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who then in turn threw a very cheeky offload to Mark Bennett who would go to ground in the Welsh try zone untouched.
This scintillating piece of play was all undone by a “forward pass” called on Hidalgo-Clyne’s offload to Bennett. This is going to be a very popular talking point over the next two weeks, rest assured.
Scrambling over the line in the last minutes, Jon Welsh would manage to get Scotland the try that many surely felt they should have scored several minutes beforehand. Tragically for Scottish rugby fans there was no time left for the restart, with match official Glen Jackson blowing the final whistle with the final score being Wales 26 – Scotland 23.
Mark Bennett – his “try” was called back
The Wrap Up
It was a tight match throughout but too many unforced errors and perhaps too much time spent defending during the match would see Scotland undone by a Welsh side that still seems to lack any real creative spark. Whereas Scotland struggled to capitalise on too many of their own opportunities through error, Wales seemed uninterested in trying to “play rugby” for long stretches of the match.
For Scotland, missing so many kicks to touch is just unacceptable at this level of play and provided Wales with a lot more ball than they should have had otherwise.
[one_half last=”no”]
The Game Changer
The disallowed try from the Hidalgo-Clyne forward pass/knock on would have to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in this one.
Although Scotland would trail Wales throughout the second half they exploded to life in the final stanza of the game.
It’s hard to feel that they couldn’t have at least pushed for a tie if Bennett’s try had gone through at 74 minutes as opposed to J. Welsh touching down at just a hair under 80.
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
The G&GR MOTM
Leigh Halfpenny and his boot for this one. He was excellent coming up from the back and largely eliminated the highball as an option for Scotland while also doing a fair job contesting some of the balls put up my his own countrymen. His goal-kicking either kept Wales within reach or kept them on top in the match.
Barring one knock on, Jamie Roberts also had a strong performance with his storming runs up with middle, some crunching defense and a few strong contests in the air.[/one_half]
The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]Wales 26
Tries: Webb (33), J. Davies (63)
Conversions: Halfpenny (34, 64)
Penalties: Halfpenny (6, 19, 31, 48)
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]Scotland 23
Tries: Hogg (9), Welsh (79)
Conversions: Laidlaw (10), Russell (79)
Penalties: Laidlaw (17, 44, 54)
[/one_half][one_half last=”no”]
Cards & citings
Yellow cards:
Finn Russell (Scotland) – 30
Jonathan Davies (Wales) – 35
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[one_half last=”yes”]
Crowd
67,144
[/one_half]
The Teams
Scotland
1. A. Dickinson, 2. R. Ford, 3. G. Cross, 4. R. Gray, 5. J. Gray, 6. R. Harley, 7. B. Cowan, 8. J. Beattie, 9. G. Laidlaw, 10. F. Russell, 11. T. Visser, 12. A. Dunbar, 13. M. Bennett, 14. S. Lamont, 15. S. Hogg
Reserves: 16. F. Brown, 17. G. Reid, 18. J. Welsh, 19. J. Hamilton, 20. A. Strokosch, 21. S. Hidalgo-Clyne, 22. G. Tonks, 23. M. Scott
Wales
1. G. Jenkins, 2. R.Hibbard, 3. A. Jarvis, 4. J. Ball, 5. A.W. Jones, 6. D. Lydiate, 7. S. Warburton, 8. T. Faletau, 9. R. Webb, 10. D. Biggar, 11. L. Williams, 12. J. Roberts, 13. J. Davies, 14. A. Cuthbert, 15. L. Halfpenny
Reserves: 16. S. Baldwin, 17. P. James, 18. S. Andrews, 19. L. Charteris, 20. J. Tipuric, 21. M. Phillips, 22. R. Priestland, 23. S. Williams
