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Steffan Thomas & Mark Orders & Ben James

Scotland v Wales exact scoreline predicted — Our expert writers say what will happen in Six Nations showdown

Wales have to bounce back to winning ways after their horror start to the new Warren Gatland reign against Ireland.

But if Gatland could handpick opposition, surely it would be the Scots?

Under his previous watch Wales played Scotland 11 times - and won every one of them.

READ MORE: Gwyn Jones column: Gatland has left me confused and my Murrayfield prediction

So will it be 12 out of 12 against a resurgent Scotland team bouyant after beating England?

Our rugby writers gaze into their crystal balls.

Steffan Thomas - Wales to defy the pundits with narrow win

If you listened to the pundits Wales shouldn't bother turning up at Murrayfield. Scotland are the form team having stunned England at Twickenham last weekend while Wales slumped to a crushing opening round home defeat to Ireland.

Wales came up short against Ireland because they got annihilated physically while they were also too slow out of the blocks, and by the time they woke up they were 20 points behind.

Scotland have a solid pack but they aren't in the same league as Ireland up front with their biggest strength the breakdown and their inventiveness behind the scrum.

Warren Gatland has injected some youthful exuberance into his starting XV, picking a pack which has a bit more bite to it.

The breakdown is an area where Wales can trouble Scotland with Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell two of the best fetchers in Europe.

Going by recent form Scotland are rightly favourites but we've been here before haven't we? Scotland have a habit of failing to build on big results and haven't won the opening two games of Five/Six Nations since 1996.

The pressure is on Gregor Townsend's side with the vast majority of pundits expecting them to brush Wales aside, but man for man Wales are better in a lot of positions.

If Morgan and Reffell can dominate the breakdown and Wales succeed in keeping Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe quiet then they stand every chance of shocking the pundits.

Scotland 24-27 Wales

Ben James - Scots to break that Welsh curse

Few probably expected Warren Gatland to tear up his pack in the fashion he did, but, regardless of whether this is a permanent change or not, it's hard to argue that some form of change wasn't needed up front.

In comes the youth of Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza and Tommy Reffell to change the make-up. The trio they replace - Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau - have won more Test caps for the Lions than these three have won for Wales.

Hopefully though Wales have the right balance, with their back-row in particular looking more equipped to go hard at the breakdown - something they didn't do until the 57th minute last weekend. Scotland's attack will need slowing down. Wales struggle with teams that employ ball movement and footwork around the fringes and Scotland showed last week they can build dangerous multi-phase attacks from deep.

For my liking, there still might not be enough ball carriers in their pack to puncture the Scottish defence and that could affect how they play with ball in hand.

What will happen in Wales v Scotland? Cast your vote now

Whether they are as expansive as they tried to be against Ireland will be interesting. Wales were just not clinical enough at times. But this Wales attack has floundered enough in the last year to question whether it is capable of winning enough collisions to stretch defences at will.

I'd still expect Wales to kick the leather off the ball and find smart ways of dictating contact. When they won in 2019 - Gatland's last victory over Scotland - it was through patient phase play and pick-and-goes that they did their damage.

For Scotland, the issues facing them are psychological. They've been favourites for this one before - twice beating England, only to be sent homeward to think again by Wales the following week.

Can they finally break that curse? You'd think it's now or never for the Scots.

Scotland 24-18 Wales

Mark Orders - Huge learning curve for Wales young guns

No-one can accuse Warren Gatland of being predictable in selection.

Leaving out Taulupe Faletau? Unimaginable. Until Gatland went and did it this week.

Omitting Justin Tipuric? That would have been a surprise before the Six Nations started.

But Gatland’s gone and done it.

Wales’ head coach feels he simply has to expose a new generation to as much Test rugby as possible ahead of the World Cup, to broaden the talent base.

It leaves a youthful Welsh pack facing a tall order against Scotland at Murrayfield. Players such as Jenkins and Tshiunza have huge promise, but every minute of Test rugby is a learning experience and it’s asking a huge amount of ones so young to deliver instantly at this level.

But who knows? Scotland have been known to get ahead of themselves after a big win previously. They won’t have a better chance to build momentum, though.

Scotland 28-19 Wales

Simon Thomas - Performance will be key over result

Warren Gatland has never lost to Scotland as Wales head coach, but logic points to that remarkable run coming to an end at Murrayfield on Saturday evening.

The Scots are on cloud nine and full of confidence following a thrilling 29-23 victory at Twickenham, while Wales have only won three of their last 13 Test matches.

It’s fifth against ninth in the world rankings, Scotland have home advantage and a settled side with real attacking threat, while the visitors have a host of rookies on duty, especially in a much-changed pack.

So you would have to go for Gatland’s winning streak to be broken. This really is one of those games where performance rather than result will be key as we look to see which of his young guns can rise to the occasion and provide hope for the future.

Scotland 24-15 Wales

Do you think Wales will win at Murrayfield? Have your say in our comments section below

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