Warren Gatland’s plans were disrupted just prior to the game when captain Ryan Jones was forced out due to an injury.
Flanker Martyn Williams took over the captaincy reins with Dafydd Jones taking over on the side of the scrum.
The game began at a rapid pace with both sides putting plenty of width on the ball. Wales worked their way into Scottish territory to threathen the Scottish defence.
Simon Webster collided with Martyn Williams in a thumping tackle and come off second best but he eventually got back to his feet to carry on.
Wales opened the scoring in the 12th minute when the visiting pack destroyed the Scottish scrum to set up an easy penalty for Stephen Jones.
Play was halted again in the 20th minute when Scottish prop Geoff Cross was knocked out when taking Wales full-back Lee Byrne out while he was midair. As he was carried off Webster also departed having been sick on the field, Chris Paterson taking his place on the wing. With the Scots reduced to 14 men, Wales made superior numbers count immediately.
Wales spread the ball wide quickly before Byrne passed back infield to Tom Shanklin who dived over to give the visitors an 8-0 lead.Â
The Scottish scrum was again smashed by the rampant Welsh pack to prevent Alun-Wyn Jones a gift try after Jones made the initial surge after the turnover.
Scotland stopped the rot in the 32nd minute when Paterson knocked over a penalty. The Scottish match winner was then halted inches short of the line by Andy Powell as the Scots finished the half with a flourish. The Scots saw their hopes thwarted when Wales wheeled the scrum close to the line and relieved the pressure to move downfield. Scotland were then penalised right on the stroke of halftime to give Jones an easy penalty to take the score to 16-3.
The second half was only 54 seconds old when Leigh Halfpenny went over in the corner in Hugo Southwell’s tackle to give Wales the perfect start.
The Welsh defence managed to keep Scotland at bay until the 52nd minute when Paterson knocked over his second penalty.
But Wales continued to pound the Scottish defence and impish winger Shane Williams slid through in the 58th minute to score his 45th try in 62 Tests.
With Wales making mass substitutions, Scotland hit a purple patch and saw the dangerous Max Evans evade Shane Williams’s tackle to score out wide in the 68th minute. Paterson knocked over the conversion from wide out to reduce Wales’s lead to 13 points.
Scotland actually finished the stronger but couldn’t find their way through as Wales held out to being their title defence with a comfortable victory.
