WELSH DRAGON SON FIRE AS THEY SEE OFF SCOTS TO SECURE DOD DIE’ SC UP
WALES 21 SCOTLAND 10
Leigh Halfpenny opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty as Scotland made a hesitant start to the game, Adam Hastings missing touch with an earlier penalty despite stealing eight yards from the ref’s mark.
However, the stand-off made a more positive impact when he poked through a grubber after Alex Dunbar’s break made the hard yards, but Halfpenny was awake to the danger and the fullback touched the ball down in his own try area.
George North thought he’d grabbed the game’s first try when, with a penalty in the offing, Gareth Anscombe gambled on a crossfield kick, but the far smaller Lee Jones did well to nudge the huge wing’s foot just into touch before he dotted the ball down, though Halfpenny scored the ensuing penalty.
Scotland were kicking away far too much ball and giving away silly penalties in kickable areas which let the ever-accurate Halfpenny kick Wales into a 9-0
lead at the end of the first quarter, though Hastings soon cut the deficit with his first Test points when the Scots pack worked a scrum penalty.
North got his try on the halfhour and Monday’s video review session won’t make for comfortable viewing for Scotland’s centres as both Huw Jones and Dunbar fell off their tackles.
Scotland needed a fillip and it came in the form of skipper Stuart McInally driving over from a penalty lineout during one of his side’s rare forays upfield, and the sides swapped ends with Wales 14-10 to the good.
Scotland’s – and Huw Jones’s – defence was found wanting again after the restart as it was all too simple for Anscombe to peel round from a lineout and feed Jonathan Davies, who handed off Jones on his way to the line.
Scotland couldn’t find a way into the second half, and Gregor Townsend replaced his front row en masse, no doubt hoping that would provide his side with a foothold in the game.
And it looked like it had, the fresh forwards providing extra oomph as Scotland battered the Welsh line before Johnny Gray grounded the ball after a lineout drive – but the TMO spotted a double movement.
George and Peter Horne came on on the hour and immediately provided the zip and spark that had been sorely lacking, and Scotland enjoyed their best spell of the match.
Elliot Dee was sinbinned for infringing at the ruck and with 10 minutes to run Peter Horne was sure he’d got a touch to little brother George’s chip into the Wales try area but ref Mathieu Raynal – wrongly, in my opinion – disagreed and they remained scoreless in the second 40 despite the man advantage.
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend felt his team did everything they could to win the Doddie Weir Cup for his old Scotland team-mate.
“I looked up a couple of times and Doddie was on the big screen and the reaction he got from the supporters was tremendous,” said Townsend.
“We put huge effort into that game, we really wanted to win that match and win the trophy and I felt the way we kept going at Wales in the second half, yes we didn’t get the points that were there but we were doing all we could to win that game.”