Wales hit back with record victory in Scotland

WALES may not have their fate in their own hands but head coach Jason Strange is adamant they are still in contention to retain their Six Nations crown after a record win in Scotland.

The young Dragons’ hopes of a second consecutive Grand Slam were dashed by England last time out but they returned to winning ways in style, scoring eight tries in the process.

Kieran Williams helped himself to a brace while fly-half Ben Jones kicked 25 points, knocking over all eight conversions plus three penalties.

Not even the six tries Wales conceded could dent Strange’s admiration of the attitude showed by his players in attack.

“It was an outstanding attacking display,” he said. “For scoring 65 points away from home, the boys deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they came here and did that.

“I know we conceded six tries, but I’d prefer to look at all the positives. We do need to be a bit more resilient going forward.

“We did let ourselves down on a couple of occasions in defence but that should not take away from a memorable victory.

“We’ve got it all to play for now when we go to Parc Eirias to face Ireland on March 11. It’ll be a tough game yet again, but if we can play the way did today, in front of our brilliant home crowd, anything can happen.”

There were three Welsh tries in the first half, from Cameron Lewis, Corey Baldwin and star man Keiran Williams, as they raced into a 27-0 lead.

The Scots refused to lie down however, and hit back with two tries from Tom Dodd and Fraser Renwick to make it 27-12 at the break.

Rhys Williams latched onto a Dane Blacker box kick to score the bonuspoint try and others followed from namesake Keiran Williams, Rhys Carre, debutant Jim Botham and Morgan Morris.

But Scotland finished up with six tries themselves as impressive replacement wing Robbie Nairn scored two of them, with skipper Callum Hunter-Hill and Andrew Simmers grabbing the others.