Cardiff talking points

Home sweet home for Wales: The statistics are stacked against Scotland when they arrive in Cardiff for an unfamiliar autumn meeting between the countries. They have not toppled Wales away from home since claiming a 27-22 victory in 2002 when current head coach Gregor Townsend was fly-half. Wales have reeled off nine successive home wins and triumphed in 14 of the last 16 meetings – home and away. Two of Scotland’s last three Cardiff visits saw them beaten 51-3 and 34-7.

Fly-half battle will be fascinating: Wales No 10 Gareth Anscombe and his opposite number Adam Hastings will both be under the spotlight. New Zealand-born Anscombe makes only his fourth start in 19 Test match appearances at fly-half and he has a big opportunity to press his claims ahead of Northampton’s Dan Biggar, who is unavailable this weekend as the game falls outside World Rugby’s Autumn Test window and England-based players cannot feature. Hastings, son of former Scotland and British and Irish Lions captain Gavin Hastings, makes his first appearance against a Six Nations team, but he has done little wrong in his fledgling Test career so far.

Scotland understudies have chance to step up: Scotland have made impressive strides since Townsend took up the head coach’s role last year, claiming victories over the likes of England, Australia, France and Argentina. And while they head to Cardiff without a number of frontline players – the likes of Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Finn Russell and John Barclay – it is a golden opportunity for others to step up. Players such as full-back Blair Kinghorn, wing Lee Jones and flanker Jamie Ritchie can all add to Townsend’s selection mix ahead of further autumn games against Fiji, South Africa and Argentina.

Wales have momentum: Victory for Wales would give them six successive wins against all opponents, equalling their longest unbeaten run since 2012, when they took the Six Nations title and Grand Slam and then defeated the Barbarians. Since losing to Ireland in last season’s Six Nations, Wales have defeated Italy, France and South Africa before claiming a 2-0 Test series triumph in Argentina. Scotland though, are also acutely aware that the Welsh have not won their opening game in an autumn series since defeating Romania in Wrexham 16 years ago.