Dan drops in
A LATE Dan Biggar drop-goal on his 100th cap broke Scottish hearts and put Wales’ Six Nations campaign back on the right track.
Scotland’s 20-year wait for a win in Cardiff continues as they were unable to back up last week’s win over England.
Wales’ physicality was questioned after their heavy defeat in Dublin on the opening weekend, but they won the collisions at the Principality Stadium with Ryan Elias, Will Rowlands, and Ross Moriarty battering Scotland into submission.
With the game in the balance, a rush of blood to the head from Scotland playmaker Finn Russell, who intentionally slapped the ball forward, gave Wales the platform for Biggar to win it with 10 minutes left.
“We put up with a lot of flak and quite rightly so,” said Biggar.
“To come back here with a crowd like that, and put on a show like that, makes it one of my best Welsh victories in my hundred caps. We had to roll up our sleeves. I’m just
IRELAND gave France a generous 10-point start, conceding an early converted try and a penalty, before fighting back to lose by six points at Stade de France. Andy Farrell’s side’s bravery saw them post three tries to France’s two. But that was never enough to haul themselves back as they lost 30-24.
STEFFAN THOMAS Wales 20 Scotland 17
happy to have scored more points than them. We put in a huge shift defensively and I thought the forwards fronted up. The maul was excellent and laid a solid foundation. The maul was huge for us all day and got us out of trouble and allowed us to gain territory and make easy yards.”
Biggar kicked Wales into an early
6-0 lead, but the visitors were finding holes in the home side’s defence. After a period of sustained pressure, a long pass from Russell found Darcy Graham in space.
The diminutive wing brushed off Louis Rees-Zammit with ease to touch down. But a sensational 50-22 from Liam Williams gave Wales field position which resulted in Tomas Francis powering over from short-range.
Russell and Biggar exchanged penalties with the scores level at 1717 going into the final quarter. With just 13 minutes left Wales came close to taking the lead when a Biggar penalty from halfway hit the bar and then rebounded back to the hosts and Alex Cuthbert went close.
Russell was then sin-binned, allowing Biggar to nudge ahead.
Scotland threw the kitchen sink at Wales late on but a crucial penalty for holding on from replacement prop Dillon Lewis, and some ferocious defending meant the visitors’ wretched record in Cardiff continued.
“You have to take your opportunities and if you don’t you end up on the wrong end of the scoreline like today,” said Scotland captain Stuart Hogg.
“We want to score tries and get into good positions. We were carrying with intent and carrying looking to score and we got the outcomes.
“Discipline was a factor. When we knocked on or gave away a penalty, on their own they are fine, but when you compound error on error that’s when you get a bit frustrated.
“That gave Wales field position and easy avenues into the game.”