By Lucky Vince Pienaar
➤ With Scotland leading by 21 points at the start of the second half in the Six Nations match against Wales, the Welsh appeared clueless against the rampant Scots.
Leading the Scots, it seemed that Finn Russell, who had taken over the captaincy from Jamie Ritchie, could do no wrong. It was a demonstration of tactical brilliance, with a hand in Duhan van Der Merwe’s two tries, smart field kicking and near perfect decision-making in the number 10 jersey.
But the men in red had other ideas. Their fightback started in the 47th minute when they powered over from a lineout for their first try. No fewer than three tries followed to bring Wales to within one point of victory. All this with Scotland not scoring a single point for 40 minutes.
Scottish coach Gregor Townsend will have gone ballistic at the way the Scots collapsed. Don’t be surprised if Jamie Ritchie is back as captain next week when the men in navy blue play France.
Warren Gatland will be pleased that Wales fought back the way they did, but the fact is this is the first time Wales has lost to Scotland in Cardiff in 22 years. He really needs to learn that a brave fightback and a valiant defeat – even by one point – is still a defeat.
Wales (4 tries) 26-27 (3 tries) Scotland
Tries Wales: James Botham, Rio Dyer, Aaron Wainwright, Alex Mann
Tries Scotland: Pierre Schoeman, Duhan van der Merwe (2)
➤ Overconfidence saw England on the backfoot for large parts of the match against underdogs Italy. The Azzuri were ten points ahead after ten minutes and it took until the 44th minute before England took the lead.
Italy’s third try in the final minute of the game brought them within three points of England, making the England victory look closer than it was, but England coach Steve Borthwick will know that his problems are far from over.
Italy (3 tries) 24-27 (2 tries) England
Tries Italy: Alessandro Garbisi, Tommaso Allan, Monty Ioane
Tries England: Elliot Daly, Alex Mitchell
Image: Duhan van der Merwe scored a brace against Wales
Source: Six Nations Rugby
