Key events
73 min: Scotland have the ball, for once, and work through some phases into the Wales half.
72 min: Willem Dafoe, the A-list Hollywood actor, is pictured in the crowd. He picked a good match, presuming he doesn’t have a season ticket.
72 min: Dempsey and Hepburn are on for Scotland. Crosbie needs treatment after what looks a high hit by Assiratti. O’Keeffe, again, says no foul play. There’s a sudden lull due to the injury after a manic 20 minutes of action. Scotland will be grateful for a break, and a chance to gather their thoughts …
70 min: The home crowd in full voice. Scotland look shocked. But can they get anything going in attack? A test for Russell’s leadership, that’s for sure.
Try! 68 min: Wales 26-27 Scotland (Mann)
Oh my word. This is happening! The maul breaks up, but Mann snipes for a try from close range. The celebrations are riotous. Crazy, crazy stuff! Wales are on the verge of one of the great comebacks. But can Scotland, at some point, get down the other end and score? Lloyd converts. It’s a one-point game with a little over 10 minutes to play. Wow!
67 min: Dyer embarks on a mazy run down the Wales left. He runs out of space, changes direction, finds some more space … The ball is worked across the field out to the right. Dyer pops up there, on the opposite wing … O’Keeffe takes it back for a penalty. The crowd is baying for more! Wales have had 69 per cent possession after the break.
66 min: Tuipulotu remains in the sin bin. He was a massive reason for Scotland’s dominance in the first half.
64 min: Oh my we have a game on now. A chip kick goes over the Scotland defence into the 22. Rowe gathers, then passes … Scotland run it out from deep and space opens up. Huw Jones is tackled … The volume under the closed roof at the Principality Stadium is turned up.
63 min: “If they score again, it’s real game on,” says Davies of Wales on the BBC. I think it’s game on now …
62 min: Wales were 27 points behind. They are now seven points behind. And Wainwright goes on the rampage down the left wing …
Try! 61 min: Wales 19-27 Scotland (Wainwright)
Wainwright reaches for the line! Lloyd converts and it’s an eight-point game!
60 min: Yellow card for Scotland! Tuipulotu
Offside, twice, says Ben O’Keeffe.
60 min: Wales camped in the Scotland 22 … The crowd is going wild. Wales are probing for another try, and moving within 10 points.
58 min: Wales have the ball. Suddenly they are attacking with precision and speed. Passes are sticking. O’Keeffe warns the Scotland captain, Finn Russell, that the next penalty is a yellow card. “Shall I tell the boys now?” Russell is bending over backwards to stay onside with the referee …
57 min: A good chip kick by Lloyd over the top this time. The bouncing ball is a horrible one for the Scotland full-back, Rowe. But he does extremely well to dive on it and prevent Wales from having a run to the try-line. The home crowd is certainly up …
56 min: Wales surge forward again, down the right wing. Josh Adams sends a poor kick ahead – Russell calmly calls for the mark.
This is good stuff from Wales, considering how they didn’t have a sniff in the first half. The prompting of Williams at scrum-half is key as the move towards the try-line and then a looping pass finds Dyer in space on the left wing. Game on? There are 15 points still in it.
Try! 52 min: Wales 12-27 Scotland (Dyer)
Rio Dyer in the corner!
51 min: A test for Scotland now. Wales rumble another powerful maul over the try-line. Penalty advantage for Wales …
50 min: Ashman comes on in the front row for Scotland, Crosbie off, in the absence of the sin-binned Turner. Wales win a penalty at the scrum. Despite his team leading by 22 points, Gregor Townsend suddenly looks a bit concerned up in his seat.
47 min: Yellow card for Scotland! (Turner)
It’s for collapsing the maul during the try-scoring attack. “You don’t often see a referee give a yellow card when a team have scored, but that was so cynical, you have to deal with it,” says Owens on the BBC.
Try! 47 min: Wales 5-27 Scotland (Botham)
Really well worked by Wales. Lineout, drive, Scotland have no answer to the power and co-ordination of the move … and get a yellow card for their trouble. Lloyd misses the conversion.
46 min: Wales have got to find something. They kick a penalty for the corner from midfield … then rumble a maul into the Scotland 22. Scotland cough up another penalty, Zander Fagerson for not rolling away. O’Keeffe is good with announcing why he’s given a penalty. Why don’t all referees do that?
Try! 42 min: Wales 0-27 Scotland (Van der Merwe)
Another shocking Welsh kick gives Scotland time and space to run it back. But even than it’s too easy: Russell takes the ball to the line, dummies one defender and feeds Van der Merwe. It’s a fantastic finish from distance from Van der Merwe who runs beyond a despairing dive by Tomos Williams, just on at half time. Russell converts.
Dee and Assiratti are both on for Wales along with Lloyd and Williams. Elias, Brown, Davies and Costelow are all off.
41 min: Costelow failed his HIA, so Lloyd is on permanently at No 10 for Wales.
Second half kick-off!
Here we go. A one-sided thrashing or the mother of all comebacks?
“Can someone tell the BBC to keep Nigel Owens for ALL games!,” emails Dave, of the former referee’s efforts on the mic.
Why not also read Robert Kitson’s report from Rome, following England’s earlier win against an impressive Italy:
Half time! Wales 0-20 Scotland
Tompkins knocks on with Wales on the attack and that’s half time tea and oranges. That couldn’t have gone much better for Scotland, or indeed much worse for Wales. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Michael Aylwin’s match preview:
“Bookies are cold-hearted, boring stattos. They generally ignore the hysterical whims of the rest of us, which is why they are so rich. So when they overlook a run of defeats stretching back more than 20 years, when they stick their necks out to say a side are likely to win despite all that, we know something must be afoot.”
37 min: Wales win a penalty inside the Scots’ 22 and kick for the corner. A converted try here and it’s game on for the second half. But Wales muck up the attacking lineout yet again! What a shocker. It was Wainwright jumping in the lineout, and a decent throw, but it slipped through his hands. Set-pieces win and lose you games, as Graham Taylor used to say.
36 min: Scotland’s Luke Crosbie is under scrutiny from O’Keeffe and the TMO for a clear-out that resulted in Costelow getting a bang to the head. O’Keeffe says no foul play. Nigel Owens, on the mic for the BBC, says he thinks the decision is “spot on”.
35 min: Wales, unwisely, send the lineout long and it’s overthrown. Scotland mop up the loose ball, but Rowe is soon charged down after Russell finds him out on the left wing. Wales suddenly have ball in hand in the Scots 22, but a knock-on is spotted by O’Keeffe. Now, the TMO is looking for a head contact by a Scotland player on Costelow.
33 min: Scotland are snaffling everything Wales are sending their way in terms of high kicks. However, Wales win a penalty for offside, kick for the corner, and they have an attacking platform late in the first half.
Try! 30 min: Wales 0-20 Scotland (Van der Merwe)
Oh, that’s good from Russell, and a simple finish from Van der Merwe, who is smiling broadly as he trots over under the posts. Costelow is the last man standing in the Wales defensive line, but he’s hopelessly exposed after more strong work down the middle by Tuipulotu. Russell bangs over the conversion and this is looking like a tough, tough day at the office for Gatland and his young captain Jenkins.
29 min: Another phenomenal clearing kick from hand by Russell takes the pressure off Scotland’s defence again, following a cheap turnover from Wales.
28 min: Can Reffell be both a Tiger and a groundhog? Yeah, let’s go with it.
