Wales 20-17 Scotland
by David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

WALES are looking forward to their Twickenham clash with England in a fortnight’s time after they edged a narrow victory over Scotland at the weekend with a Dan Biggar drop goal in the final 10 minutes.

Centre Jonathan Davies won his 100th cap when he joined the fray in the second half and spoke about winning the championship.

“History shows we get better as the Six Nations progresses and our players spend longer together, so we are looking forward to facing England.

“Today was a stepping stone, and we still have a chance in the competition. We will go to Twickenham and fight.”

This was a tense and gruelling battle as the Welsh forwards set about atoning for their poor performance against Ireland in their opening loss in Dublin.

Despite having a smaller back row in Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty and Jac Morgan, they punched Scotland hard as they sought to breach the visitor’s gainline.

Wales were equal in the scrum and line out, and the two sides traded penalties with four apiece.

But it was Scotland who scored the first try, with winger Darcy Graham taking a superb pass from the mercurial Finn Russell to manage to score in the corner.

Fittingly, it was the Welsh forwards who combined with a maul from an attacking line out, and Tomos Francis duly crashed over the line to bring his side level.

With a half-time scoreline of 14-14, the home side had dispelled the fans’ forebodings and had lifted the crowd to raucous and loud support.

Scotland had triumphed in Wales in 2020 in Llanelli, when the Millennium stadium was a Covid field hospital.

But that was at an empty West Wales ground and this arm wrestle was in the seething Cardiff cauldron where the Scots have not won since 2002.

Scotland’s Russell and Welsh captain Biggar exchanged a penalty apiece in the second half to keep the scores level until the 67th minute.

Biggar decided to take a penalty from just inside the Scottish half, and his prodigious kick hit the crossbar and rebounded back for Wales to regain possession.

Returning winger Alex Cuthbert got across the line, but the television match official adjudged that he had a foot in touch.

But the video analysis also showed that Russell had deliberately knocked the ball forward, and referee Nic Berry showed the flyhalf a yellow card.

Wales looked to apply the killer touch and, with just 10 minutes left on the clock, kicked the penalty to touch for an attacking line out.

After two lineouts Biggar decided to take three points with a drop goal to seal the win.

The Scots tried to get back into the game, but made too many mistakes and coughed up possession as the home side defended with the passion and precision that had taken them to the championship last year.

Biggar had hurt his knee early in the second half but managed to limp on until the 79th minute when he was substituted.

The Welsh captain had reached a century of caps and was exultant about his side's victory.

“This was one of the best victories I’ve had in a Welsh shirt,” Biggar said.

A capacity Cardiff is a hoodoo to the Scots and captain Stuart Hogg was forthright about his side’s mistakes at crucial points of the game.

But Hogg was looking forward to turning things round in training before facing France in Edinburgh in a fortnight’s time.

Coach Gregor Townsend said: “We have turned things around before after a loss in the Six Nations, and we need to improve for the game against France.”

The weekend’s action now means that only France have a chance of the Grand Slam, but five sides could win the championship in the tightest of contests.