Scotland make it back-to-back victories
By Mark Stevens
11/2/23
Gregor Townsend refused to get carried away after watching Scotland kick off a Guinness Six Nations campaign with back-to-back wins for the first time as Finn Russell led a second-half destruction of Wales at BT Murrayfield.
The head coach felt his team - which included the Exeter Chiefs duo Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray - were slightly better in their 35-7 victory over the Welsh than in their opening weekend triumph away to England, but he was keen to stress the importance of continued improvement.
Asked if it felt like a statement win ahead of the trip to France in a fortnight, Townsend said: “No. It feels like an improved performance.It did not feel like that at half-time, but the second half was improved.
“If it was a seven out of 10 last week, it has moved up to an eight out of 10 and we will have to improve again.The next two teams we play (France and Ireland) are ranked one and two in the world and we have to get up to nine out of 10 to beat them.The internal focus was on playing better than we did last week. We did in the end do that but there is more to come from the group.”
Two Russell penalties and a converted George Turner try saw Gregor Townsend's side race into a 13-0 lead, before Wales hit back through skipper Ken Owens.
Kyle Steyn crossed twice in the second half before Blair Kinghorn's superb score and Matt Fagerson's late try.
For Wales, it was a second successive Six Nations defeat and their 11th loss in 14 matches.
Head coach Warren Gatland said: “We are in a little bit of a hole at the moment and it's how we fight our way out of it. It's about being tight as a group and honest and critical of the things we know we can fix up. We just have to do it pretty quickly."
When asked whether Wales are suffering from a lack of confidence, Gatland said: "Yes, possibly. Sometimes, winning becomes a habit, but so does losing as well. It's just about getting through that.
"From our point of view you finish chances and you need to be vocal and communicating from the outside in. There were some players who were quiet on a few occasions. That's probably down to a little bit of lack of confidence at certain stages.
"The first couple of performances have been disappointing. We spoke in the changing room afterwards and it's about making sure that we are honest as a group."
Gatland admitted discipline and not being clinical were major contributory factors to another loss.
"It was probably some of the same stuff against Ireland so we need to be pretty ruthless in terms of how we approach going forward," he added. "We have given away 19 penalties in the game which is not acceptable at this level.
"Again we have created opportunities and not been clinical enough. We have been in the 22 for about six minutes and not come away with much. The disappointing thing is when you've focused on a number of things during the week and they don't improve."
Gatland had made five personnel changes in the forwards following defeat by Ireland as he opted for youth instead of experience.
Exeter Chiefs pair Dafydd Jenkins, 20, and Christ Tshiunza, 21 and Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell, 23, started with Alun Wyn Jones, 37, and Justin Tipuric, 33, left out of the squad and Taulupe Faletau, 32, on the replacements bench.
"I thought Dafydd Jenkins was good, Christ Tshiunza had some good carries so, for me, that was some of the positives the input of those guys and I was pleased with them," said Gatland. "People were calling for changes and then you make changes and they talk about the players who have been left out. Sometimes it's a lose-lose situation."