Principality Stadium will intimidate the Scots, says Wales assistant Humphreys
Wales assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys knows from personal experience how "noisy and intimidating" the Principality Stadium can be for visiting teams. And Scotland - Wales' opening Guinness Six Nations opponents in Cardiff on Saturday - have found it tougher than most.
The Scots have lost 11 successive games in the Welsh capital - nine Six Nations fixtures, a World Cup warm-up match and an autumn Test. Humphreys
was part of the Scotland coaching staff for two of those losses, a 51-3 reversal when Stuart Hogg was sent off in 2014 plus a 27-23 defeat two years later.
It is 22 years since Scotland last won at the venue, when current head coach Gregor Townsend lined up in a team that won by five points courtesy of injury-time penalties from Brendan Laney and Duncan Hodge.
The Scots did claim an away victory four years ago but that encounter was played at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli, with the Principality Stadium being turned into a hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think people underestimate the stadium - how noisy and intimidating it is," former Wales captain Humphreys said. "When you are the other side of that it hits you. It is not a nice place to come, especially if Wales are on the front foot and going well and the crowd are behind them.
"That is a challenge in itself. I know lots of people talk about the atmosphere. When the stadium was built, there were a few of us who were asked our opinion from the old stadium, and what we wanted was the ability still to be enclosed like the old Arms Park was."
Despite recent history, the bookmakers are confidently predicting a Scottish win against a Wales team without many familiar faces.
Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny retired from Test rugby after the World Cup, Liam Williams is playing in Japan and Louis Rees-zammit has quit rugby union to try and forge an NFL career. Injuries have also hit Wales, with World Cup cocaptains Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake set to miss the whole Six Nations along with 104 timescapped No 8 Taulupe Faletau.