Wales grind out win to keep grand slam in sight
Coach Warren Gatland hailed Wales’ resilience after holding out Scotland to keep their Six Nations grand slam dream alive.
Wales survived a second-half onslaught from Scotland to prevail 18-11 at Murrayfield yesterday and will return home to play Ireland to clinch the title and a third grand slam for Gatland in his final season.
Wales scrapped their way to a 13th consecutive win, but their preparation was undermined by a domestic rugby spat with talk of a planned merger – later scuttled – between the rival Scarlets and Ospreys clubs.
Gatland said after the Murrayfield victory that the offfield drama had impacted on his team’s preparation early in the week, but he praised their character and resolve.
‘‘This is a fantastic group of men,’’ he told BBC Sport.
‘‘They’re pretty close. There’s no doubt that Monday and Tuesday has had an impact on the players.
‘‘We didn’t train very well on Tuesday, so we had to back up on Thursday and Friday to tidy things up.
‘‘There’s obviously a lot of emotion involved with everyone. I take my hats off to them.
I’m not sure in the past we’d have had the mental strength to keep Scotland out, but these guys are finding ways to do that.’’
Gatland repeated his oft-made assertion that ‘‘this group of guys have forgotten how to lose’’.
‘‘Winning becomes a habit, and losing becomes a habit, so hopefully that continues next week.’’
Wales were cruising to a fourth win out of four when at halftime they led 15-6, a scoreline that flattered the Scots, who were coming off two bumbling losses to Ireland and France.
Then Scotland came alive in
the second half. Grant Gilchrist was held up over the line, then Darcy Graham finished a brilliant backs move, and Scotland trailed by only four with 22 minutes to go and their crowd roaring them. Scotland had virtually all the possession in the second half, were forcing penalties, and had Wales pinned down, but the Scots found their progress hindered by their own errors.
Wales’ renowned defence also came to the fore, as they made 138 tackles in the second half after 66 in the first.
The match finished with Wales in the Scotland 22 for the first time since the end of the first half, and Gareth Anscombe kicking a second penalty.
Wales scored two first-half tries, the first a superb effort by wing Josh Adams, and the other to British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies, with Anscombe adding a penalty and conversion.
New Zealander Hadleigh Parkes, who finished with a bloodied bandage around his head, was the man of the match for his heroic defence.
Gatland admitted some Welsh players possibly had their minds on the title-clinching match at halftime after Wales had a comfortable lead.
But he said they conceded too many second half penalties and were inaccurate at times ‘‘and couldn’t get out of our own half’’.
‘‘[Scotland] played it pretty well in that second half, so you’ve got to give them credit for that.
‘‘I thought our bench was good and [there were] a couple of good defensive sets, but it was pretty nerve-racking.
‘‘I spoke to the group afterwards and said, ‘when you look back and you’ve just won a grand slam, there’s always one game you are looking at [and saying] we were probably a little bit lucky. That was definitely today.’’
Wales lost star fullback Liam Williams to a shoulder injury, but Gatland may have adequate cover with British and Irish Lions fullback Leigh Halfpenny back playing club rugby after concussion issues.
Meanwhile, New Zealand-born flanker Brad Shields and centre Manu Tuilagi starred with tryscoring doubles as England routed Italy 57-14.
Shields celebrated his first test touchdowns as England ran in eight tries at Twickenham to erase memories of their defeat to Wales in Cardiff a fortnight ago.
Italy backed up their prematch promise to attack England when Tommaso Allan cancelled out Jamie George’s opening try to level the scores after 12 minutes, but that was as good as it got for the winless visitors.
England secured a four-tries bonus point by halftime with further scores from Jonny May, Tuilagi, and Shields.
To win the title, England need Wales to slip up against Ireland next weekend.
‘‘This group of guys has forgotten how to lose. Winning becomes a habit, and losing becomes a habit.’’
Wales coach Warren Gatland