BATTLING SCOTS TAME DRAGONS

Cotter’s men set sights on Triple Crown after a historic win over Wales

SCOTLAND will march on Twickenham aiming for a first Triple Crown in 27 years after a rousing, clinical second half at Murrayfield added the Welsh scalp to the Irish.

In a match that swung one way and then the other for the first hour, with mistakes, turnovers and illdiscipline ruining attacking chances for both sides, Scotland’s new composure and finishing ability swung it with tries from Tommy Seymour and Tim Visser claiming a first win over Wales since 2007.

The victory owed much to the forwards standing up to a strong and more experienced Welsh pack, learning from first-half mistakes and turning it around, and the team defending well against a Welsh back line boasting more Test experience, and knowledge of Six Nations victories.

A scrappy first half finished with neither side happy with their displays, but Scotland counted their blessings that they were still in the game, just 13-9 behind; Leigh Halfpenny having missed a penalty and Finn Russell finishing with one, after a loose performance that lacked dynamism and momentum.

The Welsh flankers Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric were constant thorns in the Scottish side, while scrum-half Rhys Webb was enjoying more success with his box-kicking than Scotland’s Ali Price at that stage.

But when reminded by head coach Vern Cotter inside the changing rooms of the need to tighten up their play and improve accuracy, the Scots exploded to score their first try and go on to score 20 more points and keep Wales from a single point.

There had been pre-match concerns over Scotland’s depth with a clutch of injuries and six changes made to the team, but as stand-in skipper for the injured Greig Laidlaw, John Barclay proved to be a key figure, both in his work at the breakdown and line-out, and in the controlled, composed way he led the team through a commanding second half.

Price, stepping up for Laidlaw, turned in a fine game in only his fourth Test match, and first from the start — showing himself to have picked up much while playing second fiddle in the camp.

Ryan Wilson returned to the side for Josh Strauss and put in an immense performance, hitting hard in defence and carrying ball well in attack, while wing Visser replaced Sean Maitland and produced arguably his finest all-round game in a Scotland jersey.

But in the early exchanges it was a case of one step forward, two back for Scotland as time and again they spoiled promising build-up with an error or penalty, that handed Wales easy possession, territory and, on occasion, points.

The first half had been a chess match of both sides vying for attacking platforms, and a bit too much kicking from the hosts. In the modern game, such platforms come as often from counter-attack as they do the set-piece and Scotland’s most threatening moments were from deep, with Stuart Hogg inevitably igniting the attack with his pace.

Huw Jones was rarely seen in open field such was the Welsh ability to throw a blanket over the Scottish inside backs, Tipuric denying him a try towards the end of the half after Russell launched Hogg and Seymour found Jones in a fine, flowing attack.

For long spells in possession, however, Scotland lacked the momentum. Passes slow and deliberate, which aided the Welsh defence to contain them. The lineouts were largely secure on both sides, penalties awarded early for impeding receivers.

There were just three scrums, Scotland winning a penalty at the first which drew a huge roar and underlined Cotter’s belief that his scrum was not a weak link.

Wales won a penalty later, underlining the ongoing propensity of referees to seek to ‘even-up’ calls that few understand, but when the visitors were given a free-kick from one scrum between those, they used that platform to launch the attack to the game’s first try.

Price had knocked his own high ball into touch and Webb’s was caught by Visser, who was held up for a maul, and scrum. Wales won the free-kick from the set-piece and Webb tapped and ran quickly, and exploited a narrow Scotland defence for wing Liam Williams to race in with 23 minutes played.

Williams almost scored another as a pass from Russell was lost by Seymour, but the TMO intervened to draw referee John Lacey’s attention to obstruction of Seymour that everyone else in Murrayfield seemed to spot live.

That was a let-off and there were a few of those, Halfpenny missing the target with a penalty before halftime that not only let Russell in to reduce the deficit to four points at the break, but perhaps also play a part in the stand-off turning down skipper Alun Wyn Jones’ request for a kick at goal when the score was 16-13 after half-time.

Scotland opened the second half with the Seymour try, which owed everything to a fine dummy run by Jones that drew in Liam and Scott Williams, leaving space for Visser to attack the last defender and sent his winger in, for a try confirmed by the TMO.

Another score by Visser in the 66th minute, after fine forward work and a sublime pass from Hogg — that will have delighted British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland — was the defining moment as, added to a seven from seven kicking return by Russell, that buried Welsh hopes.

Visser’s finish capped a wonderful display: he marked his first start of the championship with great highball takes, the pass for Seymour’s try and a match-defining try-saving tackle on Webb, that the TMO rightly ruled out, much to the Welsh scrum-half’s disgust.

Had it counted, the game may have ended differently as there was little between the sides. But when Visser finished off, Wales’ game fell apart in the face of unstinting Scottish pressure — the home bench underlining the new-found strength in depth by ramping it up in the final quarter and converting pressure into a convincing final result.

Scotland had never beaten Wales and Ireland in the same Six Nations before yesterday and the fact that this performance was far from flawless adds to the belief they are a team that should be contemplating the championship rather than what became the standard target of three victories.

A history of 34 years without victory in London emphasises the difficulty of Scotland’s challenge in striving to end England’s bid to level the world record for consecutive wins of 18, but that is Cotter’s total of victories, against 16 defeats, and there are no precedents for that.