Wales 27 Scotland 13 (From Western Telegraph)

Wales 27 Scotland 13

5:10pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Wales Rugby By Iwan Davies

WALES secured a stunning victory over Scotland at the Millennium to keep their Grand Slam dream alive in an entertaining match.

They were made to work hard by a Scotland team who had the better of the first half and the score was 3-3 at the interval.

But Wales came out firing in the second half and were ahead after just two minutes when impressive wing Jack Cuthbert scored his first try for his country on his third appearance.

Leigh Halfpenny’s conversion made it 10-3 and Wales were soon further ahead when he kicked a penalty after Scotland centre Nick De Luca took out his opposite number Jonathan Davies.

The Edinburgh man also got a yellow card for his trouble and Wales exploited 14-man Scotland with a Halfpenny try after Greig Laidlaw had narrowed the gap with a penalty.

Halfpenny converted to make it 20-6 and Wales were on fire, running from deep and tearing Scotland to shreds.

Scotland full back Rory Lamont was soon sin binned and the visitors were down to 13 men.

Wales were showing a ruthless streak that saw Halfpenny exploit the huge gaps in the Scotland defence.

His second try, which he converted, saw Wales go 27-6 up and threatening to run riot.

But the Scots never gave up and were unlucky when replacement wing Stuart Hogg was adjudged to have knocked the ball on for what looked like a perfectly good try.

They were not to be denied however because Laidlaw scored their first try in four games which he duly converted to make it 27-13.

Scotland threatened to still make a game of it but Wales held firm to win an enthralling contest that put yesterday’s borefest in Rome to shame in which England beat Italy 19-15.

Newport Gwent Dragons blindside Dan Lydiate was named the official man of the match and there big other performances by No 8 Toby Faletau, wing Cuthbert, centre Davies, Halfpenny and lock and skipper Ryan Jones.

Aaron Shingler enjoyed a fine debut on the openside as a late replacement for Sam Warburton after he failed a fitness test on his thigh this morning.

There was also a first cap for Scarlets lock Lou Reed as a late substitute.

The bad news for Wales is that their wonder kid wing George North had to leave the field in the first half with an ankle injury.

Hooker Huw Bennett also had to leave with a calf problem.