So Wales are not quite as bad as we thought, Scotland not nearly as consistent as they would like. After opening weekends of contrasting fortunes, the two played out a thriller, the sort of edgy, imperfect, dramatic event on which this championship prides itself.
Dan Biggar, on his 100th cap, stepped up – insofar as his injured knee would allow – to land a drop goal with 10 minutes to go which proved the winner. He did it while his opposite number, Finn Russell, every bit as much a talisman for Scotland as Biggar is for Wales, was in the sin bin after a knock-on that was judged to be deliberate. Scotland, having played most of the match with their usual combination of brio and class, fell away sharply thereafter. The final 10 minutes saw them haunted and error-prone while Wales grew all the larger.
Alas, there had to be a loser. Scotland feel those familiar pangs again, seemingly all the more familiar after the giddy heights of victory. But regardless of the highs and lows of individual fortunes, this was a testament to the competitive vigour of the Six Nations.
The bookies had rated the match closer than opinion at large seemed to. Form-wise there ought to have been only one team in it – and it was not the team in red, so used to prevailing here over the one in blue. Scotland won on their last visit to Wales but that was in an empty stadium in Llanelli on account of Covid. In Cardiff, though, Wales tend to play like a different beast, whatever the personnel. Hence the ranking for Scotland of only narrow favourites.
The virus had not quite finished with proceedings. The roof had to remain open for cleaner air, giving the rain more chance to affect the match. That might have suited Scotland still further, with their muscular pack and efficient lineout but, if the opening passage was anything to go by, neither side was fazed by the elements.
Matt Fagerson and Stuart McInally sparked an early period of attack for Scotland. Deep in Wales’s 22 Liam Williams managed to pilfer the ball and away Wales went, Owen Watkin dummying and stepping his way deep into Scottish territory. Stuart Hogg was quite lucky not to be penalised for a deliberate knock-on himself but from the scrum Wales were rewarded with a penalty anyway and Biggar opened the scoring in the fifth minute. A few minutes later he kicked another after Sam Skinner was caught on the wrong side of a tackle.
But Scotland’s class these days is not fragile, as it used to be. They responded with the game’s first try with one winger, Duhan van der Merwe, breaking down the left and the other, 18 phases later, scoring down the right. Russell’s cut-out pass to Darcy Graham was sublime and Graham’s finish was brilliant past a much bigger man. Russell missed the conversion but two penalties from his boot moved Scotland five points clear at the end of the first quarter.
One of Wales’s more capped players is Tomas Francis. The tighthead anchored a scrum that more than held its own and threw himself about with gusto in defence. What is more, he built his part up further with a rare try. A brilliant 50-22 kick from another player of much experience, Liam Williams, set up the Welsh for a spell in Scotland’s 22. When Biggar sent a penalty to the corner in the middle of it, Francis rolled off the side of the driven lineout to bring Wales level at half-time.
Just before that Scotland had lost Fagerson to injury to disrupt further a back row that had lost Jamie Ritchie the week before. Wales, too, had their disruptions with the experienced trio of Wyn Jones, Biggar and Williams repeatedly requiring treatment. Russell and Biggar exchanged penalties in the third quarter to maintain the tension before the game turned as the last 10 minutes approached.
A long-range penalty by Biggar hit the bar and bounced back into the arms of Alex Cuthbert. Wales hammered away in the Scotland 22 until Russell knocked the ball on as Wales whipped it across him. Cuthbert gathered and was away to the corner for what looked like a try. Closer inspection revealed a foot in touch, which meant closer inspection for Russell’s knock-on.
If Hogg’s in the first half had been deemed just a scrum, it is difficult to see why this one was not. Russell looked as if he could have caught it but such attempts are always a gamble in one’s own 22. This was not the first of Russell’s to backfire. He saw yellow and Wales set up camp in the corner. Two lineouts followed. Having sent those two penalties to the corner, Biggar decided three points might be useful after all. His drop goal proved the decisive act.
The parallels with Scotland’s game the previous Saturday were uncanny. Same score, a tight game that could have gone either way, an influential yellow card and the underdog prevailing at home. Never mind the euphoria and agony of a result. These speak of a championship more vibrant than ever.
