Scotland captain Finn Russell was hugely disappointed with his side’s second-half performance yesterday after Wales nearly pulled off an amazing comeback.
The Scots looked nailed on to secure a first win in Cardiff since 2002 when they went 27-0 up early in the second half but they then conceded 26 unanswered points.
Russell said: “The win is brilliant but that second half was nowhere near where it needed to be. Our discipline was poor and two yellow cards allowed Wales back into it. When we scored that try at the start of the second half we probably got a bit complacent and thought the game was done. The pleasing thing was that at the end of the game we managed to hold them out. There are a lot of positives but we need to be a lot better.”
Warren Gatland said Wales’ first-half performance was one of the worst halves of his 30-year coaching career.
“I think I have got to apologise for the first half,” he said. “It’s probably one of the worst 40-minute perfor mances in my whole rugby career as a coach. We were terrible, shocking. The discipline was poor, and we didn’t nail some things.”
Gatland made changes at half-time, with replacements Elliot Dee, Tomos Williams and Ioan Lloyd impressing, while back-row duo Aaron Wainwright and Tommy Reffell were outstanding.
“The message at half-time was to do what we wanted to do in the first, bring some tempo, play with a bit of intensity and play some rugby, nothing flashy,” said Gatland.
“I think some guys came off the bench and had some impact, we were so slow in the first half, things like opportunities for quick taps to get us back in the game.
“The players should be disappointed with the first half but proud the second half, they didn’t throw the towel in and could have won the game. To do what we did, be 27-0 down, other teams might have shown less character and start thinking about next week, even throw in the towel. We didn’t do that. They kept fighting and put themselves in a position to win. That showed real character”
Wales finished with a very young side after the replacements were introduced and Gatland says the talented rookies will learn with experience.
“That’s the thing with putting youngsters out, you can’t coach experience,” said Gatland. “When you’re out there in front of 75,000 people making that much noise, and the pace is quicker than club rugby, sometimes that takes time for players to get used to. We’ll need a little bit of leeway, but it’s still Test rugby and it’s about winning. ”
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “I know how hard it is to win here and the game reminded me of the one in 2010 when Wales staged an incredible rally. Fortunately today we were able to stay ahead and regrouped to dig in to keep them at bay in the final 10 minutes.
“We were clean and efficient in that first half but didn’t have too many opportunities but then we got two in quick succession and had the cushion to make the second half more comfortable than it actually turned out. The penalty count against us was 16-4 and Wales had nine penalties in succession, so being ill-discipline with the yellow cards and the numerical advantage cost us as we couldn’t get the ball.”
Scotland also lost two key forwards in the contest with Townsend confirming that Richie Gray’s tournament is over.
“Richie knew it was a bad one straight away but Luke Crosbie’s shoulder injury may be okay.”
It was a baptism of fire for captain, Dafydd Jenkins, who at 21 became the second youngest in their history to skipper Wales. He said: “My family and I are incredibly proud of the feat but it doesn’t mean that much if you don’t win.”
