Wales (0) 26 |
Attempt: Botham, Dyer, Wainwright, Mann Cons: roid 3 |
Scotland (20) 27 |
Attempt: van der merwe schoeman 2 Cons: russell 3 pen: russell 2 |
Scotland held off Wales' stunning comeback to seek their first heartbreaking victory in Cardiff in 22 years.
Gregor Townsend's side opened up a 27-0 lead after 43 minutes with two tries from Duan van der Merwe, a goal from Pierre Schoeman and 12 points from Finn Russell.
Wales fought back with a great second half performance with tries from James Botham, Rio Dyer, Aaron Wainwright and Alex Mann.
However, Scotland persevered in the final 12 minutes and won by one point.
Wales' heavy half-time substitutions changed the Six Nations spectacle.
Head coach Warren Gatland turned to the youth for a ferocious second-half performance as the hosts failed to recognize a weak first-half display in which Scotland were completely in control.
Player of the Match Aaron Wainwright was outstanding, substitute scrum-half Tomos Williams inspired the team and flanker Tommy Leffell was also outstanding throughout.
Scotland's discipline crumbled, giving away 14 consecutive penalties and yellow cards to George Turner and Sione Tuipulotu.
Wales fell just short and had to settle for missing out on two bonus points, but the changing of the guard was clear.
In reality, Scotland have ended a run of 11 consecutive defeats at Cardiff since winning the title in 2002. This victory saw head coach Gregor Townsend playing in a time when Wales' new captain, Dafydd Jenkins, was not yet in place.
During that time, Scotland had won at Twickenham, Dublin, Paris, Rome and Sydney, and with this win in the Welsh capital their previous losing streak was consigned to history.
Scotland have won the opening game of the Six Nations for the fourth year in a row, while Wales have now lost their eighth of their last nine games in the competition.
It also meant Wales' fifth consecutive defeat at home in the competition, Wales' worst result since the competition was expanded in 2000.
These stats don't reflect how well you did in the second half, but they do undermine your first half performance.
Wales in transition
An inexperienced Wales team was selected, with significant changes from the team that reached the World Cup quarter-finals in the autumn.
This time last year, eight of Wales' Six Nations starters were over 30 and the team boasted more than 950 caps and was led by Ken Owens, the country's oldest-ever captain.
In 2024, at the age of 21, Jenkins, Wales' second youngest captain after Sir Gareth Edwards, has just over 400 caps.
Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny follow Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric into international retirement, while Taulupe Faletau, Jack Morgan, Owens, Dewi Lake, Liam Williams, Gareth Ancombe and Thomas.・Francis and Louis Rees-Zammit are unavailable for various reasons.
The turnover saw Cardiff full-back Cameron Wynnett, 21, earn his first cap and fly-half Sam Costelow his Six Nations debut.
Scotland have become more settled after the World Cup, although they were eliminated in the pool stages.
With Stuart Hogg retired and Blair Kinghorn out with a knee injury, Glasgow's Kyle Rowe made his Six Nations debut at full-back.
Russell inspires Scotland
There were customary queues on the roof of the Principality Stadium before the match, but Scotland initially said they wanted to open it before opting to close it.
Townsend's side got off to a strong start with a penalty from Russell and a try from prop Schumann.
Russell scored a further penalty after Adams committed an unnecessary infraction, and the visitors were grateful for their captain's excellent kicking game.
In a first-half masterclass, the fly-half slipped through the defense to give Van der Merwe his first try against Wales.
Costelow was forced off the field with a head injury and was replaced by Ioan Lloyd, making his first international appearance in three years.
Wales suffered from lineout woes, a poor kicking game and mishandling, and had to rely on Leicester flanker Leffel's penalty for a turnover as Scotland put up 20 unanswered points in the first 40 minutes.
Wales' counterattack begins
Wales have made significant changes to their squad with the addition of scrum-half Williams, hooker Elliot Dee and prop Kieron Assilatti.
It didn't initially matter much after a poor kick chase by Wales saw Russell sprint past a rampaging van der Merwe and score a great individual move which the Scotland captain converted.
The introduction of Dee improved the lineout and Botham dug a hole before making way for Mann.
Scottish hooker Turner was shown a yellow card for deliberately knocking down a maul, but Wales left hope with further amendments.
The momentum continued with a well-worked try as Dyer dived into the corner and the hosts took advantage of the extra man.
Scotland were thrown into disarray and soon after Turner's return, center Tuipulotu was sent off to the sin bin for being twice offside.
Wales scored again with No. 8 Wainwright crashing under the posts and Lloyd converting.
Dyer made a hard break to set up an attacking lineout, Mann scored on his debut and Lloyd converted again.
They cut the gap to just one point and produced an emotional finale before Wales ran out of steam. Scotland hung on for victory and it was Russell who lifted the Dodie Weir Cup on a tense night for everyone involved.
lineup
Wales: Winnet. Dyer, Watkin, Tompkins, Adams. Costelow, G. Davis. Domakowski, Elias, Brown, D. Jenkins (captain), Beard, Botham, Leffel, Wainwright.
Replacement: Dee, Mathias, Asilati, Teddy Williams, Mann, Tomos Williams, I Lloyd, Grady.
Scotland: Row; Stein, H. Jones, Tuipulotu, van der Merwe. Russell (Captain), White. Schoeman, Turner, Z. Fagerson, R. Gray, Cummings, Crosby, Ritchie, M. Fagerson.
Replacement: Ashman, Hepburn, Miller Mills, Skinner, Dempsey, G-Horn, Healy, Redpass.
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Touch judge: James Doleman (New Zealand) & Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand).
Sin bin: Turner, Tuipulotu