Scotland went some way to providing the home support with something to cheer about at Murrayfield this afternoon with a second half performance that completely outshone that of the first half. However, the game was over by half-time, with Wales going into it 38-3 ahead after scoring five tries against a desperate Scottish defence.

Scotland found themselves 3-31 down before the half-hour mark having conceded four tries through sloppy defence and unforced errors. The Scots opened brightly enough, turning over Welsh ball and stealing a lineout within the first minute. But the first of many missed tackles let Welsh flanker Ryan Jones through the midlfield and as the ball was passed at speed through a number of hands, Jones had kept pace to take the winning pass to score.

Once again, the Scots came back strongly with some good attacking play taking them upfield to within scoring range. Then, with a two man overlap beckoning, Parks threw out an optimistic long pass which Welsh winger Rhys Williams accepted with relish and sped the length of the park to score under the posts. 0-14 after ten minutes of decent Scottish play.

The next Welsh try was only three minutes later when Stephen Jones ran through a huge gap in the Scottish defence to feed winger Shane Williams. Then, before the half-hour mark, another missed tackle, another try – this time full-back Kevin Morgan racing through for the score.

The Welsh handling and passing out of the tackle was exemplary, with every player in red popping passes with confidence. This, and the poor Scottish defence, dictated the sway of the game. It was another bit of poor tackling which allowed Man of the Match Dwayne Peel, despite having to grapple with scrappy ball, break clean from the base of a Welsh scrum to hand to Morgan for the no. 15’s second try.

Stephen Jones kicked all the conversions.

HALF-TIME: Scotland 3, Wales 38

Matt Williams made three changes at half-time, bringing on Ross for Parks, Hines for Grimes and Douglas for Kerr. He was forced just after play resumed to make another change when Cusiter went off injured to be replaced by Blair. The new players made an immediate impact, with the whole team gelling in a way that simply did not happen in the first 40 minutes. However, it didn’t happen until Wales had cheekily caught the Scots napping at a penalty. Everyone was waiting to see what they would do whilst an injured player was being seen to, but Peel tapped and fed Shane Williams and the winger scored an easy run-in.

This obviously rankled the home team and their response was to put in the best continuity play they had so far managed. The passing was slick and, most important, passes were being made out the tackles, giving the Scottish attack a momentum and threat it had previously lacked. Andy Craig scored the first Scottish try after some great play, with Paterson kicking a beautiful conversion from the touchline.

The Scots continued to press and when Brent Coackbain was yellow-carded on the hour, the home team took advantage with some tremendous attacking play, with debutant Rory Lamont scoring a fine, determined try in the corner, taking about three Welshmen with him.

And it was his brother Sean who initiated the try of the day. Taking a loose ball in his own 22, and surrounded by red jerseys, he ran powerfully at them before linking with the forwards. The ball was swept through numerous hands to the half-way line when Southwell chipped ahead. The centre was blocked but Paterson chased and collected, slipped, got up again and ran to the line to score under the posts! He converted his own try as Murrayfield went beserk.

Those three quick tries lifted the Scots’ spirit on and off the field but the Welsh lead was just too great. What looked to be a pushover try by Hogg after some more great pressure from the Scots was ruled by the video ref to have been held up, and with that went the last real chance.

Scotland will rue the sloppy first half, but be encouraged by their performance in the second, when they seemed to re-discover the fact they could actually run and pass the ball well. But even when they started to hit back, the game was already effectively over, with the Welsh only one game away from their first Grand Slam since 1978.

Attendance: 63,431

Scoring Sequence:

3 Ryan Jones (try), S.Jones (con)
10 Rhys Williams (try) S.Jones (con)
13 Shane Willams (try) S.Jones (con)
17 Stephen Jones (pen)
21 Chris Paterson (pen)
26 Kevin Morgan (try) S.Jones (con)
38 Kevin Morgan (try) S.Jones (con)
Half-Time: 3-38
49 Shane Williams (try)
53 Andy Craig (try) C.Paterson (con)
66 Rory Lamont (try)
69 Chris Paterson (try + con)
73 Stephen Jones (pen)
Full-Time: 22-46

Tomorrow you’ll be able to see the match highlights in the “Video Highlights” section of the website. You can go there now and watch the latest interview with Matt Williams and Chris Paterson, recorded on Friday. CHECK OUT THE LATEST VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS HERE.

This article was posted on 13-Mar-2005, 18:44 by Hugh Barrow.