CRUMBLING IN CARDIFF
Scotland ruin any chance of famous win with a pitiful second-half performance
WHAT are we to make of this Scotland team? The nearly men? That would perhaps be the kind, more diplomatic way of explaining how they blew the chance of a historic victory in Cardiff.
The more damning assessment would be that they bottled it. In a pitiful second-half performance, they completely lost their nerve and paid the price.
When it comes to playing away from home in front of a hostile crowd, they remain a long way from the finished article. Maybe they have the yips, like a golfer terrified as they stand over a two-foot putt.
Belief can be a hard thing to quantify in sport. It’s often thrown around as a buzzword, devoid of any proper meaning or context.
Yet, for Scotland, the reality has become painfully clear over the opening two rounds of this year’s Six Nations.
In their opening game, they had the belief that they could come from behind against England to emerge on the right side of a three-point margin.
Yesterday, they did not show the same belief that they could beat an average Wales team away from home, eventually losing by the same scoreline.
Against England, they won 20-17. In Wales, they lost 20-17. The post-match recriminations for this Scotland squad will no doubt bring endless mentions of ‘fine margins’.
But for Gregor Townsend and his players, there will be no Grand Slam this year. Their wait for a first victory in Cardiff since 2002 goes on. Plainly, they couldn’t have wished for a better chance to end that drought.
Despite facing a depleted Wales team ravaged by injuries and missing over 600 caps worth of experience, they failed to get the job done.
Wales never managed to raise themselves anything above the ordinary. Yet, damningly, neither did Scotland, who were far closer to full strength in terms of personnel.
Barring an excellent finish from Darcy Graham in the first half, their attack was blunt and they lacked imagination with ball in hand.
Not something that is usually said of a team with Finn Russell at fly-half. But the Scotland playmaker was at the heart of a controversial yellow card late in the second half.
There was a clamour to make Russell the scapegoat for this defeat before the final whistle had even sounded, though it would be wise to remember that social media is rarely a bastion of rational thinking.
Under pressure from Wales, Russell strayed from the Scottish defensive line a fraction early. It was clumsy more than anything, but a deliberate knock-on in the opinion of referee Nic Berry.
Russell fumbled the ball and stopped a Welsh attack in its tracks. Yet, there is also an argument that he might have caught the ball had he not collided with Wales’ replacement prop Dillon Lewis.
In any case, Russell was off. How Scotland might have fared in those final 10 minutes with their star fly-half, we’ll never know.
But it would have been nice to find out. Certainly, with the game so finely poised, their chances of victory would have been much improved.
Shortly after Russell was yellowcarded, his opposite number, the excellent Dan Biggar, kicked what proved to be the winning drop-goal for Wayne Pivac’s side.
But the yellow card to Russell, the fourth of his career in the Six Nations, was not the reason why Scotland lost this match.
They lost because they lacked a collective sense of belief and purpose. A three-point margin had offered them a route to victory and salvation against England.
In Cardiff, that same margin led only to defeat and damnation. The task now for Townsend and his players will be to rouse themselves for the visit of France in a fortnight’s time.
The game started at a hell of a pace. A powerful carry from Matt Fagerson looked to have set the tone for Scotland, before Welsh full-back Liam Williams ripped the ball from Scotland winger Graham to launch a blistering counter-attack.
That cranked up the volume inside the Principality Stadium as the rain began to fall. After such a chastening defeat in Dublin on the opening weekend, Wales desperately wanted a fast start.
And they got one, too, from the boot of Biggar. The fly-half, who was winning his 100th cap — 97 for Wales, and three for the Lions — put over two penalties inside the opening eight minutes to give his team an early 6-0 lead.
Russell had sent the ball out on the full from kick-off. Was this an early sign that the pressure was getting to Scotland? Would they crumble once again in Cardiff?
Well, not quite. Scotland eventually settled — and it was a moment of magic from their little pocket-rocket winger Graham which got them on the scoreboard.
With 11 minutes on the clock, Graham latched on to a lovely, looping pass from Russell. However, there was still much work to do.
Reaching out one-handed to evade the attention of Wales’ winger Louis Rees-Zammit, Graham finished quite magnificently to score in the corner. Russell missed the
conversion, but, as Welsh discipline began to falter, the Scotland fly-half kicked two penalties to put his team into an 11-6 lead after 20 minutes.
Biggar and Russell (below) then traded penalties, before Scotland lost No 8 Fagerson to injury on the half-hour mark.
It was another blow to the back-row unit, compounding the season-ending injury suffered by Jamie Ritchie against England last week.
And, only a matter of seconds after Fagerson had left the field, the decibels rose once again to acclaim the first Welsh try of the afternoon.
From a driving lineout maul deep inside the Scottish 22, it was tighthead prop Tom Francis who eventually thundered over to score.
Biggar missed the conversion. But, with the scores locked at 14-14 at the break, the game was on a knife-edge heading into the second half. Scotland brought on the big guns shortly after the restart, a whole new front row of Rory Sutherland, George Turner and Zander Fagerson replacing Pierre Schoeman, Stuart McInally and WP Nel.
The game was now becoming disjointed and it already felt like it might be a case of who can hold their discipline. And, ultimately, their nerve.
A penalty from Russell put Scotland ahead on 49 minutes, before Biggar replied 10 minutes later to tie the scores once again.
There was a sense that Scotland might just be losing their way. Where the final quarter against England last week saw them finally click into gear, the same did not apply yesterday. It was Wales who came good late in the piece. The drama started when a Biggar penalty hung agonisingly in the wind on 68 minutes, eventually rebounding back off the crossbar.
Winger Alex Cuthbert pounced on the loose ball and, after the ball was recycled through a few phases, it looked like Cuthbert might have scored in the corner.
But he was adjudged to be in touch when he grounded the ball. Play was brought back for a penalty advantage, and Russell was sent to the bin for what was deemed to be a deliberate knock-on.
Wales went for the lineout in the corner, Scotland were scrambling, before the ice-cool Biggar slotted the match-winning drop-goal as the clock ticked past 70 minutes.
Russell returned to the pitch with only a couple of minutes remaining, and Scotland threw the kitchen sink at Wales in sheer desperation as much as anything else.
But there was no way through. For Scotland, a stale smell of regret hung heavy in the air. One senses it might just have followed them from Cardiff back home to Edinburgh.