SCOTLAND 24 WALES 25

 

TALENTED young winger Louis Rees-Zammit went over for two match-winning tries as Wales made it back-to-back wins in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations in a seven-try thriller at freezing Murrayfield.

It was the 20 year-old Gloucester winger’s superb individual effort in the 70th minute, his second try of the game, and Wales’ bonus point-winning fourth, that sealed a dramatic 24-25 win in Scotland.

Receiving the ball wide on the right near half-way, he sped past two defenders, then kicked over the third, and raced onto the ball to re-gather and score the try that crucially put Wales back in front.

Prop Wyn Jones and wing-to-fullback Liam Williams also scored tries, along with a Leigh Halfpenny penalty and a conversion by Callum Sheedy, to outscore the Scots, who were 17-8 up at half-time.

A defining moment, no doubt, was Scotland prop Zander Fagerson’s red card for ruthlessly driving in with his shoulder into the head of Wyn Jones at a clear-out midway through the second half. The headlines, however, belonged to Wales’ brightest new star Rees-Zammit, whose two tries lifted an injury-ravaged side to the top of the table - and a shot at the Triple Crown against England.

“We’ve come a long way from the very start of the last Six Nations campaign, and we’ve worked so hard in the past few weeks in training,” said Rees-Zammit, from behind his face mask at the end.

“It’s hard to come up here and get a win, and it wasn’t a pretty one, but thank God we did it, I’m loving being here and playing on the big stage, I feel I have settled in really well with the team.”

Halfpenny had slotted an early penalty to put Wales ahead, but Finn Russell replied from in front of the posts and Scotland, seeking to win their fifth Six Nations game in a row, turned the screw.

After a break by Finn Russell, scrum-half Ali Price aimed a neat chip into the Welsh 22, and Darcy Graham gathered at pace and stepped away from Halfpenny to score, with Russell adding the extras.

A second home try soon followed when Russell threw a long, flat pass to skipper Stuart Hogg, who chipped on, and as the ball squirmed from Halfpenny's grasp, Hogg slid over, for Russell to covert.

The Scots held a 14 point lead, but just before the break, with Scotland having lost Blade Thompson with a head injury, Wales finally got their lineout working and made Scotland pay for ill-discipline.

After the driving line-out was held up, the ball was spread out wide and Nick Tompkins and Liam Williams put in winger Rees-Zammit, who stepped neatly inside Graham on his way to the line.

Halfpenny had gone off by then after a nasty collision with Graham that meant he also had to leave the pitch, and Dan Biggar missed the conversion, which made it 17-8 to Scotland at the break.

After the interval, Gary Graham piled over at the posts for the boys in blue, but Scott Cummings blocked the tackler from reaching him, so the score was struck off, and Wales looked to respond.

Wayne Pivac took the bold call to replace both half backs, Biggar and Gareth Davies, for Kieran Hardy and Callum Sheedy, and both played crucial roles in turning a solid driving line-out deep into a try.

Rees-Zammit went through and fed Williams to score and Sheedy’s conversion cut the gap to two points - before Fagerson saw red and Wales were up against 14 men for the second week running.

Wyn Jones, who was on the receiving end of Fagerson’s challenge, made Scotland pay as he drove over from close range for the try that edged Wales ahead - but the game was still far from over.

Back came the Scots and, after ignoring three easy points with two penalties in front of the Welsh posts, Russell fired the ball wide across to Hogg, who burst through Watkin’s tackle to score.

Russell, from 41 metres out and away on the angle, rifled over a valuable conversion for a four-point lead, but minutes later the sensational Rees-Zammit ultimately won the match for the visitors.

His fine solo effort put Wales back in front by a single point, and after Sheedy had missed another conversion, Scotland’s 14 threw everything at Wales, who held on superbly in the closing minutes.

Duhan van der Merwe looked to be away in the final few seconds, only to be tap-tackled to the floor by Watkin, and a brilliant banana kicked out of his 22 by that man Rees-Zammit secured a thrilling victory.

SCOTLAND: Hogg (capt); D Graham, Harris, Lang, Van der Merwe; Russell, Price; Sutherland, Turner, Z Fagerson; Cummings, J Gray; Thomson, Watson, M Fagerson.Replacements: Cherry, Kebble, Nel, R Gray, G Graham, Steele, Van der Walt, H Jones.

WALES: Halfpenny; Rees-Zammit, Watkin, Tompkins, Williams; Biggar, Davies; W Jones, Owens, Francis; Beard, AW Jones (capt); Wainwright, Tipuric, Faletau. Replacements: Dee, R Jones, Brown, Rowlands, Botham, Hardy, Sheedy, Halaholo.