{"id":4279,"date":"2015-02-13T14:23:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T14:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=4279"},"modified":"2015-02-13T14:23:03","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T14:23:03","slug":"scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland v Wales: Six Nations preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>Ryan Cryle previews Wales upcoming clash against Scotland<\/h6>\n<p>THERE is no question Wales must improve if they are going to overcome a reinvigorated Scotland side at Murrayfield on Sunday.<br \/>\nThe fallout from the disappointing 21-16 defeat to England will be nine days old by Sunday, but feels much longer already. The post-match discussion could have been series ending for some of the Welsh players.<br \/>\nAmong those si<a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2322175918_19fbfa698f_o.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"  wp-image-4283 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2322175918_19fbfa698f_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"2322175918_19fbfa698f_o\" width=\"405\" height=\"304\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-4283 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2322175918_19fbfa698f_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"2322175918_19fbfa698f_o\" width=\"405\" height=\"304\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>ngled out for criticism last Friday was Richard Hibbard (for mistakes at the lineout), Gethin Jenkins (for going missing in the second half), Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies and Dan Lydiate. But the whole team looked short on ideas. In the second half they let a physically dominant England bully them \u2013 not acceptable for a side containing no fewer than 11 British and Irish Lions.<br \/>\nLeigh Halfpenny was reliable as always, while Rhys Webb and Taulupe Faletau combined ingeniously for Wales\u2019 early try.<br \/>\nBut, all in all, the drawbacks of \u201cWarrenball\u201d reared their head once more, and the lack of a \u201cPlan B\u201d was again obvious. Wales\u2019s forwards struggled to compete with England in the second half, and were unable to create gaps in their defensive line as a result. George North and Cuthbert spent portions of the match looking isolated.<br \/>\nFans had called for Liam Williams, Scott Williams, Paul James and Justin Tipuric to be installed from the start to shake things up. Their wishes have partly been granted as the West Walian flier has been called up to the starting XV.<br \/>\nSamson Lee and North will miss out on medical grounds. World Rugby found the former should have been substituted after being knocked unconscious last week. But, the governing body cleared Wales\u2019s medical team of any wrongdoing.<br \/>\nWales cannot afford to lose their own scrum again, like they did last Friday. They also cannot allow soft tries to be scored against them \u2013 like Jonathan Joseph\u2019s last time out.<br \/>\nIt has been reported Warren Gatland was so incensed after Wales threw away their 16-8 half time lead, he did not say a word to the players in the dressing room. Skip forward to this week, and if Wales are vulnerable against invention, what is to say Scotland cannot unlock them as England did?<br \/>\nLuckily for Wales, their \u201cPlan A\u201d may work against a Scottish team lacking world-beating physicality. But Scotland are fast-becoming a clever, little team.<br \/>\nAlthough often overpowered in the scrum and maul Scotland\u2019s defence stood firm against the French last week. Jonny Gray made 19 tackles, while Wales\u2019s highest tackling player was Lydiate with 15.<br \/>\nGoing forward Scotland are increasingly fleet of foot with ball in hand. Finn Russell is a direct halfback, while captain Greig Laidlaw is smart in his distribution.<br \/>\nThe Scots\u2019 most dangerous player, full-back Stuart Hogg, was immense against the French, and Wales will have to keep an eye on Sean Lamont too \u00ad\u2013 a capable replacement for the injured Tommy Seymour. But when Vern Cotter\u2019s side find themselves deep in their opponent\u2019s 22, their lack of power often shows and they look impotent; unable to hammer their way across the try line.<br \/>\nSunday\u2019s game will lack the intense psychological warfare, which dominated the build-up until the lights came on at the Millennium Stadium, but there will be tension still. Scotland are playing like ateam eager to impress, while Wales will need to prove they can handle the weight of a nation\u2019s hopes. Come Sunday the two nations will be squaring off against an ideal of themselves, as well as each other. Scotland hopes for more progression, Wales fear regression.<br \/>\n<em><strong>Wales team to face Scotland:<\/strong> Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Aaron Jarivs (Ospreys), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>Scotland team to face Wales:<\/strong> Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby); Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester, CAPT); Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Geoff Cross (London Irish), Richie Gray (Castres), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan (London Irish) Johnnie Beattie (Castres).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ryan Cryle previews Wales upcoming clash against Scotland THERE is no question Wales must improve if they are going to overcome a reinvigorated Scotland side at Murrayfield on Sunday. The fallout from the disappointing 21-16 defeat to England will be nine days old by Sunday, but feels much longer already. The post-match discussion could have been series ending for some of the Welsh players. Among those singled out for criticism last Friday was Richard Hibbard (for mistakes at the lineout), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":4283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,4,292],"tags":[2423,194,154,985,328,74,339,1168,2105],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby","category-sport","category-uncategorized","tag-murrayfield","tag-plaid-cymru","tag-rugby-2","tag-scotland","tag-six-nations","tag-sport-2","tag-wales","tag-wales-v-scotland","tag-wales-v-scotland-preview"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scotland v Wales: Six Nations preview - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scotland v Wales: Six Nations preview - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ryan Cryle previews Wales upcoming clash against Scotland THERE is no question Wales must improve if they are going to overcome a reinvigorated Scotland side at Murrayfield on Sunday. The fallout from the disappointing 21-16 defeat to England will be nine days old by Sunday, but feels much longer already. The post-match discussion could have been series ending for some of the Welsh players. Among those singled out for criticism last Friday was Richard Hibbard (for mistakes at the lineout), [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-13T14:23:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/\",\"name\":\"Scotland v Wales: Six Nations preview - The Cardiffian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-13T14:23:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/02\/13\/scotland-v-wales-six-nations-preview\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scotland v Wales: Six Nations preview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\",\"name\":\"The Cardiffian\",\"description\":\"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\",\"name\":\"cathyduncan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d4d0895f6e1f7ccb86d04236a870a18b\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cathyduncan\"},\"description\":\"Lecturer, Cardiff University News Journalism MA. 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