Rugby story by Brian Watters, Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:16:01 GMT


CARDIFF - Defending champions Wales overcame their opening game blues to beat Scotland 28-18 in their Six Nations game last night. Wales had lost to England in their opener at Twickenham last Saturday. Scotland were forced to play with 14 men after Scott Murray was sent off for kicking Ian Gough.

Wales took full advantage of this situation and forged ahead with Gareth Thomas crossing over for them just before the break. But Chris Paterson had got in two penalties to keep he Scots in the hunt. Rob Sidoli and Thomas were again in the action after the break with tries and scores, but Hugo Southwell and Paterson got in their own tries and held Wales back.

Scots captain Jason White was penalized just after the start as Wales pressed on in the beginning of the match. Fly half Stephen Jones converted the resulting penalty and Wales were on their way. Scotland were keeping up with Wales and with a bit of luck could have gone past them, but Murray's red card changed the complexion of the game. Murray was sent off after kicking Ian Gough in the face. After this it was all Wales and the 14-man Scots struggled to contain them.

Wales coach Mike Ruddock was pleased with the improvement shown by his side, "People were writing the players off after last week and I thought they came back and played very well," he said. "Scotland will go on to achieve great things, but for us it was about getting the result. The key point was they were a man down but that was not enough to win it on its own. We had to put the effort in."

Scotland coach Frank Hadden praised his team's commitment, "That was an extremely gutsy effort from our guys. There was certainly no shortage of commitment," he said. "I certainly believe that, with the standards of the teams now, there is not such a big gap as there has been in the past and the quality of rugby we are seeing is absolutely breathtaking."

Match Details
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)

Wales: G Thomas (capt); M Jones, Luscombe, Watkins, S Williams; S Jones, Peel; D Jones, R Thomas, Adam R Jones, Gough, Sidoli, Charvis, M Williams, Owen.
Substitutes: M Davies, G Jenkins, Adam M Jones, Delve, Phillips, Robinson, Byrne.

Scotland: Southwell; Paterson, MacDougall, Henderson, Lamont; Parks, Blair; Kerr, Lawson, Douglas, Kellock, Murray, White (capt), Hogg, Taylor.
Substitutes: Ford, Smith, MacLeod, Petrie, Cusiter, Ross, Webster.

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