Howley saw the side score seven tries in a 51-point tally at the Millennium Stadium, while Edwards watched the 2012 and 2013 RBS 6 Nations Champions keep the Scots at bay bar an early Greig Laidlaw penalty.
George North and Jamie Roberts both grabbed a brace of tries, with Liam Williams, Rhodri Williams and Toby Faletau also touching down in Cardiff as Wales ended their Championship campaign on a high.
Wales drew plenty of praise for the manner in which they kept the ball alive as they broke through the Scottish defence at regular intervals, whether that be through patient phase play followed by quick hands or through their ability to identify space out wide and a willingness to attack from deep.
“It was good to score seven tries and make 12 linebreaks and it was great to be clinical. If we keep the ball and put pressure on the defensive line, we can go far,” said Howley, who highlighted Liam Williams’ man of the match efforts, as well as the hard work done up front to provide the platform for success out wide.
“You have to earn the right to play in international rugby. When you look at the tournament as a whole, every side is blitzing in defence. There’s the emotion of international rugby and everyone has really good line speed. You have to earn that right to play out in the 15 channels. Against England, we didn’t earn the right, we weren’t accurate enough with the ball. But you saw a different mindset here.
“We’re really fortunate to have someone like Liam to replace Leigh Halfpenny. He gives 100 per cent and he worked tirelessly and continuously. The way he came into the line was very good and I’m very pleased for him.
“From a six-day turnaround between games, with all the emotion that goes with international rugby, to turn around and put in a performance like that against Scotland, both individually and collectively, speaks volumes for the players’ attitude.”
Stuart Hogg’s 23rd minute red card may have left extra space for Wales to attack but defensively the one-man advantage could have led to complacency, especially once North had gone over for Wales’ fourth try just a minute into the second half.
A drop in defensive intensity never happened, though, as 6 Nations opposition failed to break through for the second home game in a row.
“It was a goal for us to do that,” said Edwards when asked about the desire to keep the Scots try less.
“I thought the structure of our defence was very good and the attitude of the players was good. Often when you’re winning by large margins defence can become an afterthought, but it wasn’t.
“I was particularly pleased with our driven lineout defence, especially from where we were against Ireland. I’d like to thank Robin (forwards coach Robin McBryde) for that. Against Ireland it was an issue but we improved against France and then Scotland were being driven backwards on their own lineout ball so that’s obviously very good coaching from Robin. I’m very grateful to him for that.”
