Jamie Ritchie is holding the Doddie Weir Trophy.
“It wasn’t perfect, but we did enough to get the job done. This is the first game here without Doddie, and it’s so great to do this for Cathy [Weir, Doddie’s widow] and the boys today. We have belief that when we play to our best we can beat any team, but we’ll be looking to improve ahead of Paris in two weeks.”
Updated
Scotland had eight entries into the 22, averaging 4 points for each.
Wales had 13, averaging 0.5.
That, my friends, is the tale of two performances. As I said earlier, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….”
Scotland once again upped the pace and intensity of their game in the second half, led by Russell utilising the platform given to him with aplomb, and he’s here having a chat.
“A great game and a great result for us. I was just doing my job out there, making other boys look good. We showed the continuity in the squad and our attack had that as well as our defence shutting people out.”
There was a yellow card for Rhys Webb player for not being ten off a late tap penalty, which rather sums up Wales today in some way.
FULL TIME!
The final action of the match is a penalty for Scotland that Russell taps and boots off to bring this very lopsided win home.
Updated
This is now an absolute tonking; a full-on embarrassment for Wales for the second week on the bounce.
How Gatland must be missing the Southern Alps and really good coffee right now.
TRY! Scotland 35 - 7 Wales (Matt Fagerson)
78 mins. Wales are penalised once more for illegal ruck mithering close to the line and Scotland come again via a lineout maul, before Russell, pulling more strings than a well-connected parent getting and internship for their spoilt kid, floats a pass to Fagerson out wide to score.
Russell misses the conversion.
Updated
76 mins. It’s all Scotland again, as they look to let loose by offloading everything which is often sloppy but they are basically just enjoying themselves now and are camped in the Wales half.
73 mins. Wales get back into the Scotland 22, but Scotland are defending like demons, repeatedly walloping Welsh carriers before Carre is held up over the line with the latest drive forward.
Scotland have been good tonight, and Russell is languidly wandering about the place in his element, but Gatland should be very worried about how mostly garbage Wales have been.
TRY! Scotland 30 - 7 Wales (Blair Kinghorn)
70 mins. Wales look mostly useless in attack, as they repeat the pattern of a few carries followed by giving a penalty to Scotland. The latest iteration of this has the home side on the ball from a lineout that Russell chips left to Van Der Merwe who pops it to Kinghorn who has a try of his own to add to the score.
Russell pushes the conversion wide. Not that it matters.
Updated
66 mins. The ball is worked left by Wales and a tiny gap appears for Carre to, er, carry into, but he just loses the ball as he looks to move to the line for a certain score.
Rhys Davies is on for his debut, replacing Daf Jenkins.
Liam Williams is back on as well.
64 mins. Fifteen phases of attack get Wales into the Scotland 5m, before an over-eager Jamie Ritchie is penalised for getting amongst the ruck when he shouldn’t.
Zander Fagerson, Schoemann and Gilchrist are off for WP Nel, Johnny Grey and Jamie Bhatti.
Scott Baldwin is on for Ken Owens
63 mins. Wales have their first platform for attack in a while as they go from a lineout on the 22. It’s won well and a couple of phases later Tshiunza has another strong carry in midfield to take his team into the 22.
Rhyses Webb and Patchell replace Tomos Williams and Dan Biggar. Cuthbert is on for Josh Adams.
George Horne is on for Ben White
George Turner has been replaced by Fraser Brown
Updated
TRY! Scotland 25 - 7 Wales (Kyle Steyn)
58 mins. From the lineout maul, fourteen-man Wales are sucked in which leads Russell to demand the ball and cream a cross-kick right to Steyn who is over for his second of the day.
Russell can’t convert it.
Updated
YELLOW CARD! Liam Williams
56 mins. Wales are increasingly desperate in defence and as Williams attempts a jackal he goes straight off his feet. Ref Brace has had enough of the regular infringement and the fullback pays the price.
54 mins. Scotland appear to have upped the intensity in the last five minutes or so, and Wales are struggling to handle it. The latest demonstration of that is North beign caught offside in defence, after Beard missed a tired looking tackle.
52 mins. Gatland starts ringing the changes
Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Carré come on for Jac Morgan and Wyn Jones
TRY! Scotland 20 - 7 Wales (Kyle Steyn)
51 mins. Some drives from the Scottish forwards allow Ben White to find Russell who arcs towards the right touchline and gives a glorious one-handed offload out the back of the hand to Steyn who can walk in to score.
Russell picks himself up and converts it.
Updated
49 mins. We get our first proper look at Van Der Merwe as he has the ball in space out left to gallop into the Wales half, but Tshiunza does a great job to get across and stop him with Liam Williams.
There was an advantage being played and Russell puts it in the corner to pile the pressure on the Welsh defence.
47 mins. A fabulous effort by the Wales scramble defence covers across to thwart the Scotland drive for the line. The ball breaks loose and Reffell is first to it before Dempsey grips him around the neck to give a penalty to the visitors
44 mins. An absolutely minging mix up by the Wales forwards at a lineout in the Scotland lineout gives possession to the home side, who exit miles with a run from Kinghorn and Russell then puts a 50:22 deep into Welsh territory.
42 mins. Wales have the first meaningful attack of the half, Tshiunza prominent with a couple of carries. Tomos Williams has a snipe but Liam Williams’s clearing at the ruck is not from the correct entry point and that will give Scotland a clearing penalty.
Jack Dempsey is on for Luke Crosbie.
SECOND HALF!
Dan Biggar, face like a bad ham still, boots the game back into play.
George North has passed his HIA and is back on, replacing Cuthbert.
Updated
HALF TIME! Scotland 13 - 7 Wales
That slight cock-up brings the half to an end.
Updated
40 mins. Cuthbert is nearly through a gap but is dropped by a great Grey tackle. The ball is recylced and goes left to Biggar who reverse-offloads from the tackle towards Dyer, but it was tricky one to take and it’s through him and into touch.
There was no need for Biggar to do that, a simple take-and-give pass would've done the trick.
Updated
38 mins. Scotland’s latest attack on the left of the Wales 22 is halted by Jac Morgan’s jackal winning a penalty for his team. Wales will have a lineout on the Scottish 10m
TRY! Scotland 13 - 7 Wales (Ken Owens)
34 mins. A simple catch and drive from the Wales pack does its job and allows Owens to detach and drive over from the back of it.
Biggar makes the kick to add two.
Updated
YELLOW CARD! George Turner
32 mins. The two Georges come together as North is hit by Turner around the head. The Wales centre had dropped lower as Turner came in so Ref Brace considers it yellow because of the late change in height.
Turner is off for the card, North is off for an HIA replaced by Alex Cuthbert.
Updated
Wales really need to score next as this game has the potential to depressingly move out of range, given how clinical Scotland are being on each entry into the 22.
TRY! Scotland 13 - 0 Wales (George Turner)
31 mins. From a big maul close in, the hooker peels off the back and smashes over the line. It looks like he may be held up, but the replay shows he managed to get it down a the final attempt.
Russell adds two.
Updated
30 mins. Grant Gilchrist claims a lineout in the Wales 22. The ball comes left on a lovely pattern via Russell into a gap left by Dyer rushing up. The winger looks to have made a horrible error, but he recovers well to get to Kyle Steyn and put him in touch, with assistance from Adams.
27 mins. Wales have more phases in the 22, but the alignment of their players is way too flat, meaning too many carries are coming from a standing start and thus not huge ground is being made. This is compounded when Ritchie gets his hands on the ball to win a relieving ruck penalty.
MISSED PENALTY! Scotland 6 - 0 Wales (Dan Biggar)
24 mins. Biggar pulls one from not far away from being in front, which is sub-optimal.
Stuart Hogg went off for an HIA earlier, replaced by Blair Kinghorn. The former captain will not be returning.
22 mins. Tomos Williams has a dart from the base of the scrum and is held up short, but Ref Brace blows his whistle to award a penalty to Scotland because the Wales backs had all crept offside before the ball came out of the scrum. That’s a very daft way to lose possession, Gatland will be incandescent.
20 mins. Van Der Merwe is put under pressure from another well placed kick behind, this time from Adams and the winger is tackled in goal to give Wales a scrum five platform to attack from.
18 mins. Wales come left and a lovely long pass from Hawkins finds Williams on the touchline for the fullback to grubber it forward. The ball is in behind Russell who is caught holding on by Adams chasing the kick.
PENALTY! Scotland 6 - 0 Wales (Finn Russell)
15 mins. The latest Scottish attack ends with another Welsh infringement and Russell slotting another three points.
Updated
12 mins. Russell probes the ball in behind Dyer, who looks a little undecided about what to do before he throws a poor pass above Biggar’s head, meaning the Wales 10 can do nothing but scramble to grab it and boot it to touch.
Biggar is absolutely fuming with the winger and is not looking to hide how he feels. At all. Not sure what bollocking a lad who is already clearly feeling nervous will achieve, mind.
Updated
10 mins. Some more phases for Wales, but it’s very lateral and Scotland have very little issue in containing them around halfway. Jac Morgan takes a carry in but is stripped by Pierre Schoeman.
PENALTY! Scotland 3 - 0 Wales (Finn Russell)
7 mins. Decent start from Wales, containing Scotland until Huw Jones breaks two tackles from a Tuipulotu short pop to run fifty metres to the visitors’ 22. The blue attack goes right then left, but the ball comes loose and ends up on the ground. However, Wales were offside and Russell decides points are in order.
Updated
4 mins. A couple of minutes of scrum-faff ends with Wales offered a free kick for early engagement by Scotland. Biggar launches it high for his players to chase, but a red knock on will bring about another Scotland scrum.
2 mins. Wales are tidy enough with their exit drill from the kick-off, and Hogg has his first run of the game, skipping a few tackles as he takes it 20 metres or so. The visitors soon have it back and are probing on the Scotland 10 metre line.
KICK OFF!
Finn Russell gets the show on the road.
The match ball is brought to the pitch by former Scotland and Lions flanker, Rob Wainwright, and the rest of the team that have cycled it 550 miles from Cardiff to raise money for the Doddie Weir Foundation. A poignant moment, full of hope in the wake of the loss of the big man.
As the players take the field, let’s take a moment to remember the sadly departed Scotland No 8, Siobhan Cattigan, by joining the campaign for the 8th minute ovation in remembrance.
Coming to #SCOvWAL? We’ll be standing up in an #8thMinuteOvation to #rememberSiobhan
— Allan MacDonald (@OldGeneralist) February 11, 2023
We’d love it if you’d consider joining us
Some context:https://t.co/jZuOnUkV35 pic.twitter.com/TIR7NSnGLo
Duhan Van Der Merwe is being interviewed on the TV and when asked about why he committed to Scotland the big wing explained, on the verge of tears, how Edinburgh gave him a chance when he had few options, had failed his medical, and couldn’t see much future. Therefore, he feels he wants to give everything he can to the thistle because the backing the club, and by extension in his eyes, the country gave him.
What a moving moment, and a wonderful rebuke to the negative “project player” narrative from some quarters.
Pre match reading
Futher reflection of the Gatland changes from our man, Michael Aylwin..
Officials
It’s an all IRFU affair in the disciplinary corps
Ref: Andrew Brace
Asst: Frank Murphy
Asst: Chris Busby
TMO: Brian MacNeice
Preamble
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...”
I’m not saying that’s what the dressing rooms of the two teams felt like as the final whistle hooted on last week’s matches, but I don’t reckon it was far off.
Wales, put in their place by an Ireland side not bothering to open the throttle fully, had little to look forward to; while Scotland, making something of a habit of beating England home and away, could begin to make plans of a better tomorrow.
But we’ve been here before, have we not? Scotland’s 2022 Calcutta Cup win was followed immediately by a terrible performance in a loss to Wayne Pivac’s welsh caravan of mediocrity. This is why there was less talk of celebration from Gregor Townsend and Jamie Ritchie last week and more focus on the next game - this game.
Warren Gatland took a fresh look at the mostly familiar squad from this first stint last week and clearly decided that may not be the way to go. If last week was Warren v1.1, it’s safe to say this week looks like the official release of version 2.0+.
Teams
Gregor Townsed has unsurprisingly done a copy forward of his squad from last week, replacing only WP Nel as Zander Fagerson – who would’ve started at Twickenham – is fit once more.
Warren Gatland has not done this; even the incomparable Taulupe Faletau has been jettisoned in a much changed starting XV. Also out of the pack are Justin Tipuric and Alun-Wyn Jones . Dafydd Jenkins makes his first start at lock, while Tommy Reffell and Christ Tshiunza make up the flanks with Jac Morgan moving to 8. Up front, Wyn Jones and Dillon Lewis are the new starting props, with Gareth Thomas and Tomas Francis leaving the matchday squad altogether.
The backline is as you were, and the bench features young Opsrey, Rhys Davies, as a replacement lock, plus the return of Rhys Patchell.
Scotland Stuart Hogg; Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (capt), Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 WP Nel, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 George Horne, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Chris Harris.
Wales Liam Williams; Josh Adams, George North, Joe Hawkins, Rio Dyer; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (capt), Dillon Lewis, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Christ Tshiunza, Tommy Reffell, Jac Morgan.
Replacements 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Alex Cuthbert.
