Scotland ready themselves for Welsh backlash

Battered and bruised from a tough afternoon in Dublin, the Welsh return to the Principality Stadium for another Celtic clash as the Scots come knocking, looking for their second victory of the campaign after springing one on England in Round 1.  

Having been bullied out of the match by Ireland, forwards coach John Humphreys hopes to see a significant step up in physicality in Round 2. 

 “We talked a lot about physicality on both sides of the ball, and we came up second best there it certainly wasn’t our attitude,” he said. 

“There are a few things structurally we’ve looked at that will give us a little bit more momentum to help our ball carriers. But it’s a tough place to go in terms of the physicality that they bring. 

“It’s a big work-on for us. We need to improve before we play Scotland. 

“We can say we need to be more physical, but how are we going to do that? That’s what we’re working on. 

“We don’t just want people to run harder or tackle harder, they are throwaway words. We’re on about, technically, how do we get into those positions to be able to get dominance. 

“That’s been a big focus for us this week. It comes around to that physicality, Ireland were on the front foot carrying the ball, and it’s a lot easier to get momentum. 

“We’re working hard this week in terms of trying to create that momentum, to allow us to move forward onto the ball rather than be static as we were on the weekend. It’s definitely an area we recognise as something to work on.” 

The Scots, predictably, will take the field with a world of confidence after an impressive display last weekend which saw them hoist the Calcutta Cup once more.  

However, Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel gave a very honest assessment of the performance and has expressed excitement regarding the room for improvement.  

“They were special moments on Saturday, with a full Murrayfield singing and supporting the lads as they came off the field, seeing them lift the Calcutta Cup,” he said. 

“That’s special and they enjoyed that, but realistically we didn’t actually play well. It was a pretty scrappy game. 

“It’s exciting that we know we can still play a lot better. Looking at the stats, from being a team that usually dominates possession we had to live off scraps at the weekend. We put some great moments together and we took some opportunities despite the weather. 

“The players are very grounded. They know they can get better. 

“The game at the weekend will have done us a lot of good because there were areas where we were second best, and that’s the exciting part about growing into the competition.” 

The Scots will be wise to the notion that they will face a very different Welsh outfit in Cardiff to the one which turned out against Ireland. A rugby nation as proud as Wales taking the kind of pounding they did last week will only fuel a grim, steely resolve within the squad to do whatever is necessary to bring respect back to the jersey. It is a mindset which, to the tune of their passionate fans in their home stadium, can translate into some truly uncompromising physicality on the field of play. 

Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist (who is set to win his 50th cap) spoke earlier this week regarding his side’s previous encounters in Cardiff. 

“I think we’ve maybe lost the physical side of the game. We’ve got down there and tried to play expansive rugby without earning the right. I think the Welsh teams in the past, when they’ve got the better of us they’ve been more physical than us. 

“And that’s the challenge we’ve got this weekend. We’ve got to be more physical than a pumped-up Wales team that are playing in front of their home crowd and who are desperate to make amends for a poor result in the first round. 

“That’s a great challenge for us because if we have aspirations in this tournament we’ve got to raise our game, game on game and be better than we were at the weekend because when we reviewed the game, yeah, we were delighted with the result but there were aspects of that performance that we think could be a hell of a lot better. That’s obviously exciting but we need to do the work on the training pitch to get it out there. We’ll have to be better this weekend if we want to win.” 

Sam Skinner comes into the starting XV, replacing the injured Jamie Ritchie on the side of the scrum while in the front row, South African-born Pierre Schoeman and WP start with Stuart McInally at hooker. 

The only change in the backline sees  Glasgow Warriors’ Sione Tuipulotu replace Sam Johnson at inside centre. 

It will be a particularly big day for a trio of Welshmen on Saturday with young flanker Jac Morgan making his international debut while stalwarts Dan Biggar and Jonathan Davies will earn their 100th caps. 

“With Ross Moriarty now having had more training and game time under his belt we think he’s the right guy to start,” said Wales boss Wayne Pivac. 

“Jac Morgan comes in for his debut. He’s someone that’s really impressed us in training. He’s worked very, very hard, he gives us a lot of physicality and he’s very good over the ball. 

“We expect Scotland to come down full of confidence. They’ve started with a good win. Across the board they are very competitive and committed side that throws everything at every play. We know that’s going to be tough work for us and a big challenge that we’re looking forward to and are up for.” 

On Biggar and Davies, Pivac said: 

“To get a hundred Test matches in total for any player from any country, it’s just a magnificent achievement. It shows the hard work and dedication they have put in and the sacrifice they have made over a number of years to get to this stage. 

“I’m very, very happy for both of those players to achieve it and to do it on the same day. They’ve played a lot of Test matches together in the past – it’s just going to be fantastic to see them both out there at some stage.” 

While the Scots have earned the right to be confident, they will be wary of a probable and significant Welsh backlash as the latter seek redemption for a terrible result in Round 1. All in all, a potentially thunderous Celtic clash.