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Match Report - Wales survive Scottish fightback

Wales get to grips with Scotland in 2019

Wales will be crowned Six Nations Grand Slam champions if they beat Ireland next Saturday after surviving a major scare to beat Scotland 18-11 at Murrayfield.

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The unbeaten tournament leaders’ fourth successive Six Nations victory – and their 13th of a record-breaking winning run – has teed up a mouthwatering occasion in Cardiff.

But they were pushed to the limit by a resilient Scotland team that dominated the second period as Wales were kept scoreless between the 30th and 79th minutes.

Despite a week dominated by rugby politics about the future template for Wales’ professional regional game, though, Warren Gatland’s men just about put it behind them.

First-half tries by wing Josh Adams – his third in the last three Six Nations games – and centre Jonathan Davies sent Wales ever closer to a first Six Nations crown since 2013 and seven years on from their last Grand Slam, while fly-half Gareth Anscombe added two penalties and a conversion.

But they lost full-back Liam Wiliams with an arm injury that could make him a major doubt to face Ireland, as Scotland threatened a famous victory through wing Darcy Graham’s second-half try and two Finn Russell penalties.

Wales showed an enforced change from the side that beat England a fortnight ago, with lock Adam Beard replacing ankle injury victim Cory Hill, while Scotland boss Gregor Townsend made four switches, including starts for Graham and scrum-half Ali Price.

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And Scotland started brightly, sourcing quick ball through their half-backs Price and Russell, but they lost a promising attacking position when skipper Stuart McInally was penalised for foul play.

Scotland, though, took an 11th-minute lead after Wales flanker Josh Navidi infringed and Russell kicked the resulting penalty, yet Wales responded brilliantly.

From their first notable attack, the visitors delivered a superb score as slick passing freed Adams near the touchline and he showed outstanding footwork to round Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn and touch down unopposed.

Anscombe kicked the conversion for a 7-3 advantage after 13 minutes, and although Russell then booted a second penalty, Scotland lost wing Tommy Seymour with what appeared to be a rib injury.

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A long-range Anscombe penalty restored Wales’ four-point advantage, and they began to move through the gears, utilising outstanding carrying work from the likes of Navidi, Ross Moriarty and skipper Alun Wyn Jones.

And a second try arrived 10 minutes before the break, with Wales patiently going through an impressive phase-game before it was all rounded off by an easy finish for Davies.

The whole move went through 23 error-free phases, and Wales had control – despite Anscombe hitting the post with an angled 25-metre penalty kick – as they led 15-6 halfway through the contest.

Scotland began the second period in front-foot mode, helped by a powerful run from prop Allan Dell, and Wales were forced into a reshuffle when Williams departed injured, with Biggar replacing him and Anscombe moving to full-back.

The Scotland forwards laid siege to Wales’ line, and lock Grant Gilchrist was denied a try by some outstanding defensive work as the home side grew in confidence.

And their pressure was rewarded through a fine 58th-minute score for Graham, which owed everything to smart creative work by Russell and replacement Byron McGuigan and concluded a dominant Scottish third quarter that saw Wales’ penalty count stack up.

Wales, starved of quality possession and territory, could not get their game going as Scotland continued to dominate during a tense final 10 minutes.

But Scotland could not keep their composure as time ticked down, and a relieved Wales held out as Anscombe kicked a late penalty to set up a huge Principality Stadium encounter in seven days’ time.

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B
BC 7 minutes ago
Black Ferns reward 18-year-old's form in team to face Wallaroos

Yes, I think that NZ have to work on their forward play if they are going to go the whole way again. I don’t know too much about your forwards but there do seem to be some familiar names still being selected that have come up short in the past. You have considerable talent in the backs but you will need the ball. There is much truth in the saying “forwards win matches and the backs decide by how many”. I would agree with your comment about Leti-I’iga and Woodman has a lot to assimilate in very few matches as a possible 13, perhaps the hardest position to play. I shall watch your match on Saturday with much interest, though not in the middle of our night.


Unfortunately two of Ireland’s top forwards have been ruled out by injury. I’m not sure they have enough depth to cope with that in the latter stages of the WC.


The performance of France at Twickenham was a surprise, you never know which French team will turn up. Having said that, for most of the match they were second best, but some slack tackling, complacency?, and their Gallic pride got them close on the scoreboard. I was there and whilst eventually grateful for the final whistle, we never felt their late flourish would prevail. When the Mexican wave starts after 25 minutes, you know the crowd thinks it’s already all over. You are right though, do not write off the French, they have strong forwards and flair in the backs. Give them an inch and they will take a mile. On their day they are a real handful for any team.

4 Go to comments
B
BigGabe 41 minutes ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

Fair commentary. I am not sure it would probably work against him though, since his temmates have come out and said that they enjoy it. Similarly, Irish fans seem to enjoy Lowe’s celebrating and English fans their “plastic energy” players.


Oof, that Stormers comment..as a Stormers fan, it hurts to be a Stormers fan. We can be so good, but also we can collapse like a house of cards. I do think that there is a line, I would agree with you. But I also very much think that the rugby public blows it out of proportion when someone gets exuberant (Lowe annoys the daylights out of me, but that’s his game and he is good at it. I am sure plenty of people find Faf annoying too). I’m not sure rugby will go the way of the NFL though, I do think that on a cultural level rugby playing nations (and the cultural demographics that go into playing rugby) differ vastly from the US. The US as a nation is very much about bravado. Similarly, the argument about rugby devolving into football, it is a sport that rewards theatrics so naturally theatrics enter into the culture. I don’t see rugby going that way, there is something different about rugby and the people that it attracts. Perhaps it is the gladiatorial aspect, or the lack of insultingly large paychecks. I am not sure, it would be interesting to conduct a study on this to be honest.


Yes, my examples go back quite far and are sporadic inbetween. But this makes me wonder - does rugby not have so many showboats because it doesn’t attract showboats or because it doesn’t allow showboats?

13 Go to comments
W
Werner 1 hour ago
URC teams aren't proving Stephen Donald wrong

3 things:


1) I don't think you have an understanding of what sort of politics goes on in SA, you are assuming it's very competitive and performance focused same as NZ, I can tell you it's a lot greyer and more ambiguous but green and gold goes along way in greasing wheels. Often revenue at the state and national level are prized more by some in the SARU despite the impact of accepting it, but you will never heard them own it.


2) While we're comparing national teams performance to gauge the ‘domestic’ comps, you do realise that both Ireland and Scotland are higher in rankings and have better recent record than Fiji and Australia who are in the SRP right? And when was the last time either of them made a final in SR? 2014! But here's the thing…. I never said URC is better than SRP, imo they are about the same each with their benefits and different style. Where as you harp on about how crap URC teams are but not why SRP is better. Have SRP teams faired better against European teams? No? So how do you know and ‘demonstrate’ this inferiority? both have a range of good and bad countries competing (URC has slightly more higher ranked teams). Both are dominated historically by one country and team (Leinster/crusaders). So what is this demonstrable fact I'm missing? What's the point of difference other than subjective opinion


3) let me understand this, the only decent team in the URC is Leinster as they are good enough to make Eurochamps finals but not good enough to make the finals of the URC the last 2 years. So they despite beating Leinster (the EC finalists and good team) the other URC teams are still crap?

50 Go to comments
P
PR 1 hour ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

There are degrees of taunting. In my opinion Pollock is slightly OTT. Nothing offensive, just what Australians call “a goose”. Like James Lowe and Ben Earl. Celebrating wildly and often towards the crowd throughout the game. “Plastic energy” as Bongi calls it. It’s the kind of behaviour that turns a hostile crowd more hostile and motivates opponents even more - so probably works against your own team. Pollock is young and having the time of his life so his antics are understandable but I think most people find that kind of showboating annoying - hence the ‘love him or hate him’ tag.


The reason why the behaviour of Pollock makes headlines is because it is still quite rare in rugby. Your examples go back to 1974, 2003 and 2022. Of course there are chirps between players during a game but what Pollock is doing is more like the showboating you see after a touchdown in NFL. He’s not the only one of course. Just about every Stormers try comes with an elaborate handshake or routine. Perhaps the future of rugby is more like NFL but I reckon it will always be annoying to a lot of people.


Also, unless you are Matt Williams or Gregor Townsend, 6-2/7-1 was never against the spirit of the game. It’s an argument brought up by pundits to get attention or frustrated coaches who are trying to justify poor results. Most coaches, players and supporters get it. Even World Rugby gave it the thumbs up. It should be celebrated for its innovation.

13 Go to comments
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