Faulty Wales aim to end drought of losses in Six Nations against Scotland

They face a side that in their last outing put aside England 31-20 to claim the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield. However, since 2001, after claiming the Cup seven times, they have lost their next match six times.

Scotland responded, as they had to, against England following a disappointing 18-15 loss to Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. But Gregor Townsend’s side have consistently struggled to replicate the same energy in their next outings. Could this be good news for Steve Tandy’s Wales?

Scott Cummings, in the week leading up to the match, acknowledged the fact that his side has not been able to respond following a big win, and the second row insisted that his side intends to break that pattern

Speaking following Wales’ Captain’s Run at Principality Stadium, Lake added: “We never go onto the field to lose.

“I think that the one thing we’ve asked for is that we see our performance on the field, we see that (wins) start to develop, we see in changes in our game.

“Look, we know Scotland are a classy outfit. Their attack and shape is excellent. They’ve got some dangerous players, (British and Irish) Lions.

“(They’re are) littered with them. Look, we’re massively excited for the task ahead. The boys are excited to be back at home and have a go at Scotland.”

It must be said, Wales are desperate to record a win this weekend. And for head coach Tandy, he’ll be facing familiar faces, as former Scotland defence coach. But Wales have suffered back-to-back thumping defeats against England and France.

They have scored only 19 points against Scotland’s 49, and have conceded over a century. Both England and France ran riot against Wales in their outings, but Lake insisted that there had been signs of improvement.

I think set-piece (against France) was a massive positive compared to round one,” continued Lake.

“We looked like a much better team (last timeout).

“England, we weren’t there as a group. We’ve spoken about that. Mentally, we were all ready, excited, but physically, we didn’t turn up to the battle, which probably explains that (poor performance)

In their last game at the Principality Stadium, Wales set a record-breaking attendance, as it was the lowest-attended Six Nations game in Cardiff. 57,744 fans watched, and it seemingly felt like and sounded like there were more ‘Les Bleus’ supporters in a stadium once upon a time where opposition sides feared to travel to.

Since the 2023 Rugby World Cup, they have recorded only two wins, both against Japan in 2025. Their last real chance of winning at home in the Six Nations came against Scotland, where Wales came back from 27-0 down, as the enthralling contest finished 27-26.

It was Scotland’s first triumph in the Welsh capital for 22 years, but with Principality Stadium losing its intimidating edge of recent times, Townsend’s side will not head to the Welsh capital fearing.

“Speaking about people being the sixteenth man, I think especially in this stadium with the roof closed that sound kind of echoes,” Lake said.