Wales prevail at Murrayfield
The Welsh love the Edinburgh trip. It is their favourite away venue. In fact they may enjoy it even more than a match at home and this afternoon they made Murrayfield sound like a home match with Bread of Heaven, Hymns and Arias and the cheering every time Wales scored or looked like scoring. They pay their money over months and there was a lot of red in the stands and big flags and huge daffodils. And they got their money's worth. After all it was a thrilling match of much life and derringdo, and Cymru won. Even those who did not actually get to the game, would have enjoyed it.
It was the third and quite the liveliest Six Nations match of the weekend, and it could have gone either way. In fact the first half ended with Scotland right at the line and the second half ended just over the line.
There were some brilliant moments - Stuart Hogg's long dash to score, Leigh Halfpenny's aerial exploits, the attack and counterattack that led to Rhys Webb's try, Alex Dunbar's break, Matt Scott's break, Jonathan Davies's try. And then there was the thrill of three Scottish assaults on the line when chances of scoring were faded by phases. There was some great Welsh defence, made easier by the one-dimensional attack.
After their competitive performance in Paris when the French failed to score a try, expectations were high that there would be a Scottish victory. Even JK Rowling, who once wrote that "it is considered infra dig for wizards to support any rugby team other than Scotland", was in the stand supporting Scotland.
From the very start Wales ran the ball and throughout had the majority of possession. When Blair Cowan, a prodigal who gave Wales nine points in the match, went in at the side and over the ball to make its egress difficult, Halfpenny goaled. 3-0 after 6 minutes, but then, inside the Scotland half Finn Russell won a turnover and gave the ball to Richie Gray who gave it to Stuart Hogg who sped 65 metres down the left and over to the posts for an exciting try, Greig Laidlaw converted and after Scotland won a Welsh line-out and attacked, he kicked a penalty and Scotland led 10-3 after 16 minutes. They led for 18 minutes till Webb scored his try.
When Dan Biggar kicked an up-and-under Halfpenny chased, leapt and won the contest for the ball for Wales to get onto the attack with Liam Williams and Webb prominent. Cowan was penalised and Halfpenny goaled. 10-6.
A penalty gave Wales a five-metre line-out but Scotland coped well and cleared away when Wales were penalised. But then Russell was penalised and yellowcarded at an air collision and Halfpenny made it 10-9 after 31 minutes.
Three minutes later Scotland were on the attack going left and getting towards the Welsh line when Cowan lost the ball forward and Halfpenny snapped it up. Away he scuttled on his right and then the ball went wide left to Williams on an overlap. As the defenders closed in on him he gave inside to Webb who went over for a try - a splendid bit of attack and counterattack. Halfpenny converted from touch and Wales led 16-10 after 34 minutes.
In the time before half-time Scotland attacked. First Jonathan Davies was yellowcarded for an air infringement on Johnny Beattie and then Scotland rumbled a line-out maul downfield. Wales were penalised and ambitious Scotland opted for a five-metre line-out. They mauled and then released the ball. Dunbar was close, Laidlaw was close and Richie Gray was close but Wales won a turnover and kicked the ball away. But Hogg came racing back on the counterattack and Laidlaw was right at the line when the ball became unplayable and it was time for the heartache of the half-time break.
Scotland started the second half in dominating mood and when Jamie Roberts was penalised at a tackle Laidlaw drew Scotland up to 16-13. But then Wales were in Scottish territory and Cowan unbound early at a scrum and Halfpenny made it 19-13. Then Jake Ball tackled Beattie without the ball and it was 19-16 after 54 minutes.
Richie Gray hurt his right arm and was replaced by Jim Hamilton.
Wales thought they had scored in the left corner. A penalty got them a five-metre line-out and they formed a maul. The maul splintered and two players drove ahead on the left while the ball was in the pod behind them. Webb gave to Williams who was delighted to go over in the corner. But the referee consulted his assistant and then the TMO and it was clear that Ball and Alun Wyn Jones, the two doing their own bit of ball-less driving, had obstructed. And so it was not a try but a penalty to Scotland.
That seemed to spur Wales on to more attacking and when Davies burst out of Matt Scott's attempted tackle he ran straight ahead. Hogg bought his unconvincing dummy and the stocky centre was over in under the posts. 26-16 with 16 minutes to play.
Time enough for Scotland to win and they tried mightily. Mark Bennett broke and seemed likely to score but Biggar brought him down. Scotland went through advancing phases and Cowan was close. Wales were penalised and Scotland tapped and attacked some more. The same happened again but then Scotland held on and were penalised. Wales's defence was immense.
Hogg had another good run and Wales were much penalised - 12 times in the second half - and Scotland kept bashing at them till in a melee Hamilton was seen to score. Russell converted, and time was up.
Moment of the Match: Rhys Webb's try and the hither and thither of it as two enterprising sides sniffed a chance.
Villains of the Match: The two yellow cards, Finn Russell and Jonathan Davies, I suppose but it looked more accident than malice.
Man of the Match: There were candidates - Stuart Hogg, Greig Laidlaw and the Gray brothers, the whole Welsh defence, and our choice - Leigh Halfpenny who was quite the most skilful player on the field.