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Scotland vs Wales at Murrayfield
(Saturday, February 25, 10.25pm HKT)
James Harrington previews an intriguing match-up between the rapier-like Scots and the blunt instrument that is Wales.
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What we can expect
A rerun of Scotland’s game against France – only with the opponents in red, not (mostly) white. Wales look to have opted, once again, for the bosh. It’s not subtle and it’s not clever, but it worked for Les Bleus in disguise last week. Whether Wales can repeat France’s success is another question. The Scots – battered, bruised and weakened they may be – are wise to the tactic now. And they’re at home.
Scotland
There can be no doubt losing terrier-like captain Greig Laidlaw is a massive blow, but stand-in scrum-half Ali Price has been in rare form for an inspired Glasgow this season. Vern Cotter has made four more changes: Quins’ winger Tim Visser comes in for the injured Sean Maitland, Gordon Reid makes his first Championship start in the front row, lock John Hardie also makes his Six Nations bow, with Ryan Wilson in the back-row. John Barclay is captain in Laidlaw’s absence.
Matchday 23: Hogg, Visser, Dunbar, Jones, Seymour, Russell, Price; Reid, Brown, Fagerson, R Gray, J Gray, Barclay, Hardie, Wilson. Bench: Ford, Dell, Berghan, Swinson, Watson, Pyrgos, Weir, Bennett
Wales
George North returns to the side after missing the defeat against England with a dead leg, while pre-packaged Wales scapegoat Alex Cuthbert unsurprisingly drops out of the squad altogether. Meanwhile, Luke Charteris, 6ft 10in of raging human knotweed, makes his first appearance in this year’s Six Nations as a replacement.
Matchday 23: Halfpenny, North, S Williams, J Davies, L Williams, Biggar, Webb; Evans, Owens, Francis, Ball, Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Moriarty. Bench: Baldwin, Smith, Lee, Charteris, Faletau, G Davies, S Davies, Roberts
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All eyes on: Stuart Hogg
Scotland’s fullback is just about the closest of anyone to being a nailed-on member of the Lions’ squad, has scored three tries in two Six Nations games. If Wales give him an inch too much space, or a fraction of a second too much time, he’ll rip them to shreds.
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Key battle: Ali Price and Finn Russell v Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar
The halfback axis is always crucial, and in Greig Laidlaw’s injury-enforced absence for Scotland, it is no surprise that Vern Cotter has opted to unite instrumental fly-half Finn Russell with his Glasgow scrum-half Ali Price. How they perform against another Pro12 club partnership – Ospreys’ Webb and Biggar – is sure to have a major impact on the game. Watch out, too, for the midfield clash of clans, as Scotland’s budding centre partnership of Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar face Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies.
Prediction
Scotland have only won once against the Welsh in 10 years. They could improve that record at Murrayfield this weekend. Scotland by 4.
