Townsend’s men pay the penalty for playing too fast and loose
Scots had most possession in the first half but mistakes cost them dearly in the end, writes Richard Bath
Despite a ridiculously emphatic 34-7 scoreline, Scotland will look back on this reality check of a contest and know this is a match they could have won. Instead, it was defined by a first half in which they had the vast majority of the territory and possession, yet went into the interval floundering and 14 points adrift. The die was cast.
“We did try to go too wide too quickly,” admitted Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend afterwards. “The first 15 minutes was a bizarre test match, it was so open. We made some breaks in that period, we went wide, we turned over the ball, they made a break then turned over the ball. It wasn’t really what you’d describe as a Six Nations game. The interception try really sapped our confidence and gave them momentum to go back and score another try.”
Contrary to all expectations, the Scots were not undone by their scrum, which held up well. Nor were they outmuscled up front. Instead, their destruction lay in a blinkered determination to play fast and loose even when it became clear that the wide game which lacerated Australia and brought them 41 tries in 2017 – compared to Wales’s 17 in the same period – was not working.
Scotland forgot the schoolboy maxim that you need to earn the right to go wide. Instead of being pragmatic and mixing it up, they persisted with their expansive intent, which meant that Wales could defend accordingly, the Scarlets back row targeting the Scottish half backs and their backline operating with a line speed which put real pressure on the visiting threequarters and the midfield partnership of Huw Jones and Chris Harris in particular.
That pressure accounted for some of the litany of mistakes that afflicted both sides but which were especially ruinous for Scotland. In the first half the men in blue were in double figures for both knock-ons and penalties. Finn Russell missed touch from a penalty, Stuart McInally was penalised for a squint throw-in five metres out from the Welsh line, Ali Price was penalised for a squint put-in to a five-metre scrum on Scotland’s line and Chris Harris knocked on a pass off a lineout move in the Welsh 22. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Some of those mistakes were arguably caused by Welsh pressure, but mostly Scotland were the instigators of their own downfall. In the modern euphemism, Townsend conceded that Scotland “lacked accuracy in all areas of our play”. Both of Wales’ first-half tries – the only two times the Welshmen got into Scotland’s half – came directly from unforced errors by Price. The first came when the scrum-half tried a long hero pass from the touchline to prop Jon Welsh, rather than to lock Ben Toolis, who was the obvious receiver. With the pass telegraphed, Gareth Davies intercepted and scampered over from inside his own half.
The second try involved an even more egregious error from Price. The little No9 was penalised twice for squint put-ins during Glasgow’s recent win over Exeter Chiefs, yet fed the ball into the Scotland scrum’s second row at the first scrum under the visitors’ posts and was predictably penalised.
Price was so out of sorts that he was lucky Wales did not score a try when they charged down his box kick moments before half-time. What Scotland desperately needed was a period of prolonged possession to tie in the Welsh back row, but a mix of their unwillingness to go through the phases and their seeming inability not to cough up possession meant Wales’s back row and midfield defences knew exactly where the ball was going next.
Given Scotland’s travails, the only surprise was that it took Townsend so long to empty the Scotland bench, the head coach only doing so after Wales had scored two penalties straight after the break, effectively finishing Scotland off. Greig Laidlaw, Ryan Wilson and Jamie Bhatti then came on after 48 minutes, with Peter Horne, Grant Gilchrist and Sean Maitland joining them on 54 minutes to inject some much-needed experience.
By then it was too late. The lineout remained a shambles, with Scott Lawson throwing squint and Wales stealing lineout ball. Out wide, Finn Russell continued to chuck a succession of hopeful 50-50 passes, then finally a no-look pass that led directly to Steff Evans’s try.
It speaks volumes that it took until the last minute of the game for Scotland to put together a succession of phases that you needed more than one hand to count. Desperate for a try to salvage some pride, they attacked with a control and physicality that had been notably missing throughout and were rewarded after 20 phases with a try for Peter Horne. QED.
For Scotland, this may seem like a disaster, but it is also a reminder that when Plan A fails, you need a Plan B to turn to.