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Wales Online
Sport
Ben James

The reasons Wales were just hammered by Scotland as myths busted and basics go missing

A sorry Wales were a distant second best as Scotland finally got one over on Warren Gatland in emphatic fashion, winning 35-7.

If Ireland in round one was bad, then this was somehow worse. The sight of Scotland running in five tries past their bogeyman Gatland's hapless side far outweighed the disappointment of losing to Andy Farrell's men in Cardiff on opening day.

Tries from George Turner, Blair Kinghorn, Matt Fagerson and a brace from Kyle Steyn banished the ghosts of Gatland and meant, for the first time since 1996, they had won the first two matches of the championship.

For Wales, it's the first time since 2007 they have lost their opening two matches (pretty sure the Six Nations and the World Cup in France later that year worked out fine...)

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This performance was on a par with the lows of 2022. Maybe Italy and Georgia bruised the ego more, but this was a desperate defeat. Read the full Wales player ratings here.

Slow start again as basics go missing

Granted, it wasn't quite losing the match in 20 minutes like they did against Ireland, but Wales did the little things poorly in the first quarter once again.

Thankfully, this Scotland side aren't on the same level as Ireland and weren't capable of pulling away early on like Andy Farrell's men did in Cardiff. That would, unfortunately, come later as Scotland got over a lack of composure to finish strongly.

But the way Wales continually got little things wrong in the opening stages of the match was disappointing.

Just 25 seconds in, Tomos Williams' clearance kick was too long, allowing Stuart Hogg to evade a swathe of Welsh chasers and set up Scotland near halfway.

The next time they put boot to ball, less than two minutes later after some failed attempts to make inroads in Scotland's defence, Dan Biggar's up-and-under also had too much on it, with Finn Russell able to easily call a mark and clear his lines.

From that lineout, Ken Owens' throw to Christ Tshiunza was not straight. When Huw Jones scythed through Wales' midfield all too easily after seven minutes, it seemed likely to be a long afternoon.

But despite that break resulting in a penalty, and further daft errors continuing to pop up throughout, from more lineout errors to an offside from an attacking scrum, Wales weren't punished as harshly as they were last week.

Instead, they were able to drag Scotland back from a 13-0 lead into a dogfight, eventually making a 22 entry count with Owens' score later in the half.

When Wales are so inefficient in the 22, thanks to a multitude of errors varying from a malfunctioning lineout, lack of clearout detail and a general inability to win collisions, it's all the more galling when they start slowly.

Lineout woes

Perhaps the worst of those basics going awry at Murrayfield was the lineout. Granted, when it went right, they forced their way over for a try. But all too often, the detail was lacking.

After Wales had been handed an attacking lineout in the first half after Joe Hawkins' looping miss-pass found the edge, allowing them to kick behind off the front-foot, the lineout was easily contested and stolen.

The throw to Tshiunza should have been higher, but instead it allowed Richie Gray to get across and underneath the Exeter man.

On another occasion in the second half, Wales didn't even get a jumper off the ground as chaos reigned in the Welsh pack. What should have been an attacking lineout ended up being a Scottish counter-attack.

If that moment didn't succinctly sum up Wales' issues at the lineout, then opting not to compete when Scottish back-rower Jamie Ritchie was forced to throw into the lineout after George Turner's yellow card might do the trick.

Myths busted en masse

Scotland can't back up big victories? They did here. In truth, it would have been deeply troubling had they not this time around. Even with a lack of composure for the first 50-odd minutes, those in blue soon realised the match was there for the taking.

Gatland doesn't lose to Scotland? Well, he does now.

Wales will be more organised under Gatland? Maybe in time, but not right now. My god, not right now...

Muddled thinking in attack

Wales almost seem unsure of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Plenty of jackal threats, but not a great deal of carrying impact? Probably makes sense to hold onto the ball and aimlessly carry into contact, then.

Especially when referee Andrew Brace seemed willing to give carte blanche at the breakdown early on. Ritchie was able to claim one holding penalty for effectively diving over a ruck after it had already formed. So why not play into that?

People moan about kicking a lot, and much of Wales' kicking in Edinburgh was aimless, but when few within the side are capable of winning collisions, kicking is your best bet. Instead, Wales still got sucked into trying to break down a blue wall with a shapeless attack.

The detail is missing and some key partnerships just seem off. Dan Biggar and Tomos Williams don't seem to work as a 9-10 combination.

It's always been hard to judge the backline based on the lack of a platform, but Gatland's whole first reign was built around getting the backs to compensate for that platform.

Wales made twice as many carries in the first half, but it's hard to pinpoint what they did with it. Alex King has his work cut out.

'Glimpse of the future?'

Those were the words of BBC commentator Andrew Cotter once Wales had emptied the bench and brought on youth.

Indeed, this had been billed as a changing of the guard beforehand, with the likes of Christ Tshiunza, Dafydd Jenkins, Tommy Reffell, Jac Morgan and Rhys Davies being favoured over more experienced faces.

On the whole, they showed up relatively well. Morgan and Reffell worked well as a unit when Wales went looking for breakdown rewards, while Tshiunza performed admirably and Jenkins did his best to add some carrying threat.

While we had a glimpse of the future in terms of personnel, we might just have looked ahead to what the results might look like moving forward. Welsh rugby is mired by uncertainty and there's no guarantee things will get better any time soon. The days of beating Scotland year after year might just be over.

A sour footnote

It had little difference in the outcome, but try-scorer Turner was certainly lucky to escape with just a yellow card for a swinging arm on George North. Mitigation was found due to North's height dipping, but the movement of Turner's arm seemed reckless..

More concerning was the fact that North was allowed to play on for an extra attacking set before departing for a HIA. He would then return in the second half.

The looming shadow of brain injuries remains a tough one to reconcile with, particularly when you see incidents like this.

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