Scotland secured a win in their opening game of the 2024 Six Nations, although they came dangerously close to experiencing a historic collapse in their 27-26 victory over Wales in Cardiff.
The away side absolutely dominated the opening half of the game, with Wales putting in one of their worst 40-minute performances in recent memory.
Gregor Townsend's side were well on top in every aspect of the contest, carving the home side open with ease on a number of occasions.
Good work by Finn Russell to set up Duhan van der Merwe who touches down for Scotland's second try against Wales #SixNations
📺 Watch live on @RTE2 and @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/ISMA4tvqeR— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 3, 2024
They would lead 20-0 at halftime.
Far from a notion of any comeback it looked as though the score would be run up even further when Scotland tacked on another try soon after the interval.
However, the game was soon turned on its head.
Despite leading 27-0 early in the second half, a combination of Scottish indiscipline (picking up two yellow cards in quick succession) and rejuvenated a Welsh attack meant that this lead soon evaporated. Wales would score 26 unanswered points to ensure that the contest was very much in the balance heading into the final ten minutes.
Alex Mann on his debut for Wales dives over for the bonus-point try, conversion follows and it's now 27-26 to Scotland #SixNations
📺 Watch live on @RTE2 and @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/ngtOvXhlRh— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 3, 2024
However, Scotland would manage to just about hang and secure a 27-26 victory to begin their Six Nations campaign with a victory.
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Finn Russell calls out Scotland teammates after Wales Six Nations collapse
While this results represents a first Six Nations victory over Wales in Cardiff since 2002 in Scotland, the manner in which they fell apart in the second half has to be of massive concern.
They certainly seemed to capitulate the second any sort of pressure came on, even if they did eventually manage to see out the game.
Speaking on RTÉ after the game, Scottish captain Finn Russell made the rather unorthodox move of calling out some of his teammates for their role in allowing Wales to come back into the game.
We're probably a little bit disappointed, to be honest. The win is brilliant, but I think that second half was nowhere near where it needed to be.
In the first half we played well and controlled the game. In the second half, our discipline was poor with two yellow cards, and that allowed them back into the game...
When we scored that try early in the second half we probably got a little bit complacent, to be honest. We probably thought the game is done, but there's still a long way to go, especially away from home...
The frustrating thing for me was that the points I was making, they weren't being listened to.
One of my main ones was to leave the ruck and we kept going into the ruck. We got a yellow card for going into the ruck too many times, a yellow card for offside.
That's something we will have to review as a team. When we are getting messages from the coaches or from the players, we need to listen to it.
If the message is 'leave the ball' and we are still going for it, then the individuals that are going for it need to look at they're game and that they're putting us under pressure.
Finn Russell was appointed as Scotland captain just before this year's Six Nations, a role he is set to share with Rory Darge.
Still fresh in the role, this was certainly an odd move to make as a newly established leader of the group.
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