A brave Wales side beat Scotland 23-9 at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday in their last match before the World Cup.
Scotland opened the scoring when ‘Kilted Kiwi’ Brendan Laney slotted a long-range penalty goal in the fifth minute, but opposite number Harris immediately replied in kind to level the scores.
Harris repeated the dose after No 8 Alix Popham had driven Simon Danielli into the Millennium Stadium turf and forced the big Scottish winger to illegally hold on to the ball on the ground. The former league star’s third penalty goal took Wales out to a 9-3 lead after 10 minutes.
His fourth came after skipper Colin Charvis had brought the crowd to their feet with a great burst through the middle, and Wales were dominating a match for the second time in four days. And the second time this year.
The home side could have gone further ahead when Ceri Sweeney charged down a clearing kick, but opted to try to pick the ball up instead of toeing it ahead. He spilled it forward with no Scottish defenders in sight.
Popham was forced from the field with an injured shoulder in the 25th minute, and Wales were lucky to keep their tryline intact when Scottish fullback Glenn Metcalfe waltzed through some awful tackling before being shut down five yards out.
Scotland had their own injury problems when captain Scott Murray left after 30 minutes, but Laney reduced the margin with a penalty goal, before spraying another attempt left of the uprights.
Poor handling from both sides stopped several promising moves, including another powerful run from Charvis, and there was a general sense of relief when referee Chris White blew the halftime whistle with Wales ahead 12-6.
Harris and Laney exchanged penalty goals early in the second half as the two trylines remained virgin territory, and the match that began so promisingly began to meander along between handling errors.
With both defences holding firm, the game needed a spark of brilliance. Step forward, Tom Shanklin.
The Cardiff Blues signing jinked his way to within inches of the Scottish line and quick ball resulted in a simple touchdown for lock Michael Owen. Harris put the conversion wide – his first miss of the day.
Shanklin broke through again in the 60th minute before giving winger Matthew Watkins space down the lefthand side, but the Llanelli man’s inside pass to Sweeney was ruled forward.
But Shanklin’s cameos aside, the game had little to cheer about. Except, obviously, that Wales were in front throughout.
Scotland camped on the Welsh line for 10 minutes late in the second half, but couldn’t find the key to unlock an organised defence. Steve Hansen is hard to please, but he would have been smiling at his players’ guts and defiance.
In desperation, Scottish coach Ian McGeechan threw on Chris Paterson, the man who broke Welsh hearts at Murrayfield in March, but even he couldn’t spark the lumbering visitors into life.
Harris could have sealed things in the 78th minute, but missed with both a dropped-goal attempt and a penalty shot from a handy range.
Fly-half Sweeney showed him how a minute later with a sweetly-timed dropped goal to take the margin out to 14 points with only injury time left.
Referee White sent Shanklin to the sinbin for a professional foul, but Scotland ran out of time to score that elusive try, much to the delight of a brave young Welsh side.
Wales: Try – M Owen; Pens – I Harris 5; DG – C Sweeney.
Scotland: Pens – B Laney 3.
Halftime: Wales 12-6.
Yellow card: T Shanklin (Wales)
Referee: Chris White (England)
