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14-man Scotland undone by Louis Rees-Zammit in thrilling Wales comeback win

By PA
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Louis Rees-Zammit’s double helped hand Wayne Pivac claim his first away win as Wales coach as they hit back to stun 14-man Scotland 25-24 at Murrayfield. Gregor Townsend’s team were looking to build on last week’s historic Guinness Six Nations Twickenham victory over England and got off to the perfect start with tries from Darcy Graham and Stuart Hogg.

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But their hopes were wrecked when Zander Fagerson was sent off for a dangerous clear-out and Wales ruthlessly exploited their man advantage. Gloucester wing Rees-Zammit, who had scored just before half-time to keep Wales in the contest, pounced with his second after Liam Williams and Wyn Jones had also crossed over, confirming a bonus point.

Hogg did briefly put Scotland back in front, but Pivac’s Wales team held their nerve to claim their first win on foreign soil in five attempts under Warren Gatland’s replacement.

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There was no repeat of last week’s Twickenham knee-gate row as all 23 Scotland players plus the visitors remained standing with heads bowed during the ‘moment of reflection’ called for by the tournament organisers to show support for the fight against racism.

Some remarkable discipline saw the Scots pinged just six times against the Auld Enemy, but they were not quite so tight this time, handing over three penalties inside the opening seven minutes. Leigh Halfpenny slotted over the first points of the day but they were quickly matched up as Finn Russell responded.

The Scotland stand-off was one of the chief architects of that Twickenham triumph and he was flying by the seat of his pants again this time, chucking around passes so flat they missed Wales noses by mere millimetres. It was from his daring offload to Jonny Gray that the opening try came after 19 minutes.

The big lock did not have the speed to go all the way, but Scotland recycled possession before Ali Price’s sublime chip over the static Welsh defence dropped into Graham’s hands and he scampered around Halfpenny to dot down under the posts.

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It was a despairing effort from the Welsh full-back but he should have done much better six minutes later. Hogg started and finished the move that brought the second as he chipped over the back of the visitors.

The ball should have been easily gathered by Halfpenny, but he instead let it tumble from his grasp as his opposite number appeared in a flash to scoop the ball up and slide over the line to put his team 17-3 up and seemingly on course for a victory that would have given them two consecutive wins at the start of the championship for the first time since 1996.

Halfpenny ended up going off to have a head knock assessed after a mid-air clattering with Graham, who was looking a threat every time he got his hands on the ball. His namesake, Scotland replacement Gary Graham, who had taken over from the concussed Blade Thomson early, was also proving a menace – to his own side.

First, he wrecked a good scoring chance by getting caught on top of the ball at a ruck, before giving Wales good territory with a high tackle on Taulupe Faletau. It was a costly mistake as Wales got the momentum changer they desperately needed 90 seconds before the break. Tying the Scotland pack up at the breakdown, the visitors worked the ball wide through Tompkins and Williams before Rees-Zammit ran in for the touchdown.

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Scotland hoped that was just a blip. It may have been had Scott Cummings not denied Gary Graham the chance to make amends after 48 minutes as he was ruled to have obstructed the Wales defence as Darcy Graham charged over the line.

Instead of going two scores in front, Townsend’s team found their lead trimmed back to two points a minute later as the Welsh pack careered forward from a devastating lineout maul before Rees-Zammit released Williams in space to score.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts after 53 minutes as Fagerson got his marching orders for slamming into Jones with an illegal clear-out. Against 14 men, Pivac’s team needed just 90 seconds to nudge in front as Jones barged over from another well-executed lineout manoeuvre.

Scotland still had plenty of time to respond but they needed someone to take command. Up stepped Hogg as he collected a Russell pass before setting off on a 15-metre rampage towards the corner as he brushed off Owen Watkin and Tompkins before getting the ball down on the line.

But Wales simply had too much space to play with and they claimed the win with ten minutes left as Rees-Zammit chipped the ball over Hogg’s head before racing through to claim the bonus point. Scotland fought to the end but their hopes were dashed in stoppage time as Hogg failed to hold onto Duhan van der Merwe’s desperate last charge.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

41 Go to comments
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